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[The JRB Daily] Saaleha Idrees Bamjee wins 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize for debut poetry for Zikr, a poignant collection of longing and loss
Saaleha Idrees Bamjee has been announced as the winner of this year’s Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry for her…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 4, Issue 6
Adam Smyer • Wamuwi Mbao • Nadia Davids • Hemley Boum • Nkiacha Atemnkeng • Esther Mirembe • Stella Nyanzi…
‘They hate us like we murdered their entire family.’ Read ‘Shelter in Place’, an essay on anti-Blackness by Adam Smyer
Adam Smyer reflects on a global pandemic and Black Lives Matter. As I write this, we are in roughly Month…
[Sponsored] Pan Macmillan SA stance on the South African publishing landscape
From Pan Macmillan South Africa: In this seminal moment, remaining silent and neutral on these matters of representation and commitment…
What continuities can be drawn from the murder of Ahmed Timol in apartheid Joburg to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis? Wamuwi Mbao unpacks the debased tradition of police murdering civilians
The abolition of slavery, formalised gender discrimination, apartheid and other reprehensible ways of being did not occur simply through continued…
‘Does my chest sound tight to you?’ The first 40 days; notes from a South African lockdown, by Nadia Davids
At first, you wake up each morning determined to make something of the day. You will be your best self….
[Sponsored] Find out more about Humankind—the major new book from Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, ‘the folk hero of Davos’
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers! From ‘the folk hero of Davos’, Fox…
‘Black people are not asking to be loved beyond reason’—Hemley Boum reflects on the Black Lives Matter protests during the coronavirus lockdown
It happens that words become too inconsistent to communicate shock. Not that we can’t guess at the terrifying explosion, whose…
Pan-African Anti-Racism and Solidarity Reading List: A Resource from The JRB
In continuing solidarity with the progressive literary community and all who fight racism and anti-Black violence, The JRB presents this…
[Sponsored] Explosive new book tells all—The Accidental Mayor: Herman Mashaba and the Battle for Johannesburg
The Accidental Mayor: Herman Mashaba and the Battle for Johannesburg by Mashaba’s former chief of staff Michael Beaumont is out now…
‘I could easily be the next George Floyd. If I make just one unconscious mistake …’ Read ‘A letter from Texas’, by Nkiacha Atemnkeng
Nkiacha Atemnkeng1619 Ranch Road no. 16 San MarcosTX 78666USA Akale StreetFiango, KumbaSouth West RegionCameroon Dear Papa, Greetings from a sci-fi…
‘I was anticipating that it would be banned before we even got it out’—Stella Nyanzi chats to Esther Mirembe about her prison poetry collection No Roses from My Mouth
In February 2020, poet and academic Stella Nyanzi was acquitted and released from prison after being held for eighteen months…
[Sponsored] Make your book dream come true with Paper Frog Publishing, a subdivision of LAPA and Penguin Random House SA
Many authors dream of being published, but they do not want to surrender total control to a traditional publisher. Paper…
Of fear and motherly love—Rofhiwa Maneta reviews Imani Perry’s memoir Breathe: A Letter to My Sons
Imani Perry’s Breathe is a memoir committed to the radical hope that sees Black boys as more than problems to…
Philosophy in Africa, or Africa in Philosophy? Mary Carman reviews Debating African Philosophy: Perspectives on Identity, Decolonial Ethics and Comparative Philosophy
Mary Carman reviews Debating African Philosophy, a new collection of essays that originated during student protests and demands for the…
[Sponsored] Mubanga Kalimamukwento wins Best Fiction at the 2020 CDI Zambia Tell Your Own Story National Book Awards
Congratulations to author Mubanga Kalimamukwento for winning the Best Fiction Award at the 2020 CDI Zambia Tell Your Own Story National Book…
[City Editor] ‘Writers do not write alone. They are always in the company of other writers’—Lidudumalingani reflects on reading books that make you write
Some days are longer than others, and during this Covid-19 controlled reality, it seems like someone out there somewhere keeps…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of George Hallett by Victor Dlamini
Photographer George Hallett died this week. See The JRB’s obituary here, and an appreciation of Hallett by our Photo Editor,…
‘NO ONE IS SAFE’, a poem by Allan Kolski Horwitz
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a new poem by Allan Kolski Horwitz. ~~~ NO ONE IS SAFE …
[Exclusive] Read an excerpt from Sex and Lies, the first work of non-fiction in English from award-winning Moroccan author Leïla Slimani
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Leïla Slimani’s new book Sex and Lies. Sex and LiesLeïla Slimani (translated by…
‘The brown man in a white man’s city who is watching other brown men.’ Read an excerpt from Amnesty, the new novel from Man Booker Prize winner Aravind Adiga
The JRB presents an excerpt from Aravind Adiga’s new novel Amnesty, a riveting, suspenseful and exuberant novel about a young…
‘Thinking while black’—Read Grace A Musila’s essay from the award-winning book Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience
‘How do we craft a healthy, dignified blackness, in a world where blackness is a captured identity location that needs…
‘Those gold men really think this land belongs to them’—Read an excerpt from How Much of These Hills is Gold, C Pam Zhang’s debut novel, which reimagines the myth of the American West
The JRB presents an excerpt from How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang, a revisionist immigrant…
Read ‘Black children and white dolls’ by Kopano Ratele, excerpted from his book The World Looks Like This From Here: Thoughts on African Psychology
The JRB presents an excerpt from The World Looks Like This From Here: Thoughts on African Psychology, by psychologist and…
‘Race matters. It matters because of the meanings we give to it.’ Read an excerpt from Race Otherwise: Forging a New Humanism for South Africa by Zimitri Erasmus
This excerpt is based on a chapter from a Zimitri Erasmus’s book Race Otherwise: Forging a New Humanism for South…
‘It’s surreal that a coming-of-age story set in Umlazi has found another home in the USA’—International deal for Sifiso Mzobe’s debut novel Young Blood (Plus: Excerpt)
United States publisher Catalyst Press has acquired the rights to publish Sifiso Mzobe’s award-winning novel Young Blood in North America….
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry shortlist announced
The four books shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry have been announced. The prize, one of South…
How to make photographs that mattered—The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini remembers George Hallett
The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini pays tribute to George Hallett, who passed away today. I first got to know…
George Hallett, 1942—2020, RIP
Header image: Brother George, by The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini Legendary South African photographer George Hallett has died, according…
[The JRB Daily] ‘We made a mistake’—Media24 Books apologises for lack of diversity in literary awards judging panels
Media24 Books has released a statement in the wake of the outcry over the lack of diversity in this year’s…
[The JRB Daily] Writers condemn the lack of diversity in the 2020 Media24 Books Literary Prizes
Yesterday, the winners of this year’s annual Media24 Books Literary Prizes were announced. When The JRB published the news this…
[The JRB Daily] Media24 Books Literary Prizes winners announced, including Jonny Steinberg, Trevor Sacks and Edyth Bulbring
Header image: Jonny Steinberg, Trevor Sacks, Zirk van den Berg, Loftus Marais, Edyth Bulbring, Fanie Viljoen, Theodore Key The winners…
[The JRB Daily] Zambian author Namwali Serpell shortlisted for Arthur C Clarke Award, the UK’s most prestigious prize for science fiction
The shortlist for the 34th Arthur C Clarke Award has been announced, including The Old Drift by Zambian author Namwali…
Elsa Joubert, 1922—2020, RIP
Acclaimed author Elsa Joubert has died at the age of ninety-seven. Joubert’s son, Nico Steytler, has confirmed that his mother…
[The JRB Daily] Youssouf Amine Elalamy wins 2020 Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique—a prize that celebrates French writing by African writers and publishers
Moroccan author Youssouf Amine Elalamy has won the second annual Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique, for his novel C’est…
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including Nigerian writer Innocent Chizaram Ilo
The regional winners of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, known as the world’s ‘most global literature prize’, have been…
