Illuminations first appeared in Columbia, SC in 1982 committed to publishing new and up-and-coming writers alongside already established ones. The current issue of Illuminations is dedicated to the memory of Dennis Brutus, the renowned South African poet, activist, and scholar, who died at his home in Cape Town on December 26th, 2009. At his 85th birthday party just a month earlier, Brutus's spirit remained undimmed although his body was wasting. Emaciated but eloquent, he sent a typically inspiring message to activists at the Copenhagen climate conference defining the environmentalist argument as one of global social justice. "We are in serious difficulty all over the planet," he said. "We are going to say to the world: There's too much of profit, too much of greed, too much of suffering by the poor...The People of the planet must be in action."