Bananas

a literary journal founded in 1975 by Emma Tennant, who intended it as a means of publishing a broad range of imaginative writing. It was originally subtitled ‘the literary newspaper’, appearing in folio with a striking red and black cover design and featuring short stories, poems, articles, reviews, and illustrations. Contributors to early issues included Angela Carter, Tom Disch, J. G. Ballard, William Burroughs, Lorna Sage, and Ruth Fainlight. In 1978 the ownership and editorship of Bananas passed to Abigail Mozley, under whose direction it assumed magazine format and promoted regional (see Regional Poetry) writing through the appointment of editorial correspondents in various parts of Britain. Andrew Motion, Peter Didsbury, Helen Dunmore, and William Scammell were among the poets whose work appeared in the journal in the early stages of their careers. Special issues were produced on Russian, French, German, Spanish, and South American writing. Bananas ceased publication after its twenty-fourth issue in January 1981.