Namwali Serpell • Jacob Dlamini • Barry Gilder • Rustum Kozain • Rémy Ngamije • Farai Mudzingwa • Oyinkan Braithwaite • Michael Yee • Victor Dlamini • Jennifer Malec • Lewis Nkosi • Jolyon Nuttall • Wamuwi Mbao • Niq Mhlongo • Efemia Chela • Hugh Lewin

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Welcome to the second issue of Volume 3 of The Johannesburg Review of Books.

In this issue, Namwali Serpell chats to Wamuwi Mbao about her highly anticipated debut novel, The Old Drift, which will be published in March.

In new book reviews, Jacob Dlamini reads Barry Gilder’s ‘brilliant, haunting’ novel The List, and The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec looks at My Sister, the Serial Killer, the debut novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

Poetry fans are in for a treat, as we feature previously unpublished work by our Poetry Editor Rustum Kozain.

We’re pleased to be able to publish ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’, new, original short fiction by Rémy Ngamije, as well as ‘Loadshedding’ by Michael Yee, the winning story from this year’s Short Sharp Stories Award.

Farai Mudzingwa imagines what he would have, or could have, tweeted, had he been able to, during the week-long social media blackout in Zimbabwe in January.

From our Photo Editor Victor Dlamini this month, feast your eyes on original portraits of Tsitsi Dangarembga and Achmat Dangor.

Our City Editor Niq Mhlongo reflects on the genesis of the stage adaptation of his short story ‘Nailed’, which will be on at the Market Theatre this month.

You can also find out what it was like to spend time with Lewis Nkosi in New York in the nineteen-sixties, with an excerpt from Jolyon Nuttall’s new book of essays, Vintage Love.

In Francophone news, find out more about a new translation of Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s poetry, the judges announced for the recently announced Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique francophone, and read new Algerian poetry in translation by Samira Negrouche, Habib Tengour and Djamal Amrani.

The JRB also presents an excerpt from Stones Against the Mirror, the memoir of journalist, author and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Lewin, who died in January.

Here’s the complete breakdown of Vol. 3, Issue 2, which you will also find on our issue archive page:

Interview

• ‘From the historical past to the science fictional future’—Namwali Serpell chats to Wamuwi Mbao about her forthcoming debut novel, The Old Drift

Reviews

• ‘A story that skips along breezily, even as the body count rises’—Jennifer Malec reviews My Sister, the Serial Killer, the debut novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite
• ‘There is no comfort to be had in fiction. Our history is too raw for that’—Jacob Dlamini reviews Barry Gilder’s ‘brilliant, haunting’ novel The List

Essay

• [City Editor] Behind every story, think of the writer—Niq Mhlongo on the new stage adaptation of his short story ‘Nailed’

Feature

• ‘Zimbos are Highly Educated in conspiracy theories smh’—Tweets from Harare during the week-long #ZimShutdown social media blackout, January 2019

Excerpts

• ‘It was the only way we could escape our whiteness’—Read ‘Struggle Heroes’, an excerpt from Hugh Lewin’s memoir, Stones Against the Mirror
• A 1960s summer in New York with Lewis Nkosi—Read an excerpt from Vintage Love and Other Essays by Jolyon Nuttall

Poetry

• New poetry by Rustum Kozain: ‘Miró Miró’

Short fiction

• New short fiction: ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’ by Remy Ngamije
• New short fiction: ‘Loadshedding’ by Michael Yee, winner of the 2018 Short Sharp Stories Award

Photo Editor

• [Photo Editor] Original Portraits of Tsitsi Dangarembga and Achmat Dangor by Victor Dlamini

Francophone news

• ‘I avoid filling up my belly to feel less guilty’—Read newly translated poetry by Fiston Mwanza Mujila
• Veronique Tadjo announced as head judge of the Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique francophone
• ‘I write in French to tell the French that I am not French’—Algerian Francophone poetry featured in Words Without Borders

The JRB Daily

• Hugh Lewin, 1939–2019, RIP

Header image: Jennifer Malec