During the decades when West Indian literature rose to international prominence, it was BIM, one of the seminal Caribbean journals, that gave support to this burgeoning of literary and cultural expression. E. L. Cozier was the first editor of BIM, which was then taken over by teacher, writer and artist, Frank Appleton Collymore, who served as editor of BIM from its first year of publication in 1942 until 1974. BIM then appeared with unpredictable regularity over the decades and was last published in 1996. Throughout the decades of its publication BIM provided an avenue for expression, mainly to aspiring writers, but also to more established artists. Although the original BIM was predominantly a literary magazine, it was also engaged in a broader project. It created an avenue and a space for other artistic expressions from painting, to cartoons, to experimental writing. The early editions of BIM tended to feature artists mainly from Barbados, but it soon evolved into a breeding ground for talented writers around the region who wanted to promote their own work, but who also wanted to offer critical commentary on Caribbean and related literature, arts and culture. It is significant that many of the established writers and critics on Caribbean literature appeared in BIM, from Edgar Mittelholzer, George Lamming, Samuel Selvon, Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, Roger Mais, Mervyn Morris, Edward Baugh, Gloria Escoffrey, to V.S. Naipaul, Austin Clarke, Shake Keane, Timothy Callender and Gordon Rohlehr. But lesser known writers also found a space, ensuring that decades afterwards we would appreciate the skillful writing of Anna Sealy, Karl Sealy and Elizabeth Walcott. BIM responded to the demands of its constituents. Careful analysis of its growth reveals the ways BIM was able to keep pace with the times, whether through an embracing of a regional literary project, or through its more confident promotion of nation language, or even through adjustments to its very physical appearance and printed typeface. It evolved into a regional and international journal, which though foregrounding the literary, was very sensitive to the wider cultural milieu and the social space called “the Caribbean”. The featuring of photos and artwork, sculpture, cartoons, indeed the prominence of the commercial advertisement and the very visual nature of vintage BIM, seem to beg a reassessment of its core emphases and its cultural reach. The relaunch of BIM in 2007, came at a critical juncture in the development of Caribbean society. If the original BIM responded to the need for avenues of creative expression, this relaunched BIM also shares that fundamental vision. Still, any attempt to measure up against and capture the full essence of the vintage publication is bound to throw up differences, no matter how fervent the attempt to copy the original. Indeed, with the passing on of editorship after 1974, noticeable differences with the Collymore era emerged.
This new phase in the publication of BIM is a critical one. The current publications acknowledge the contribution of the past, but they also recognize the current realities of the Caribbean and its diaspora. If BIM as it evolved was more tightly linked to literature, these current publications broaden focus and interest to support the artistic and cultural expressions of the Caribbean. The rationale for this embracing of a wider constituency of artistic works, expressions and ideas is therefore not beyond justifiable reason. Subsequent volumes (and their editorials) will call attention to the critical importance of their specific issue, giving even fuller perspective on the evolution of BIM. Foundation BIM was a leader with respect to its vision of and for Caribbean society; it facilitated cutting-edge interventions into Caribbean critical discourse. This reconstituted publication also rescues that vision as it provides a facility for literary and cultural expression in the 21st Century. Future special issues will therefore, over time, open up an avenue for electronic publication and for a wider range of submissions including audio and video files, which though trendy among youths, nonetheless, can reflect the studied work of aspiring writers, critical thinkers and a new cadre of Caribbean intellectuals.