Alain Mabanckou • Ama Ata Aidoo • David Goldblatt • Tayari Jones • Jacob Dlamini • Abi Daré • Lidudumalingani • Alaa Al Aswany • Cho Nam-joo • Margie Orford • Jamil F Khan • Maggie O’Farrell • Neliswa Tshazi • Imtiaz A Cajee • Sifiso Mzobe • Andries Bezuidenhout • Makhosazana Xaba • Lindiwe Mabuza • Baleka Kgositsile • Lerato Kumalo • Barbara Adair • DDT Jabavu • Mark Winkler • Victor Dlamini

Welcome to the fifth issue of Volume 4 of The Johannesburg Review of Books—the Sampler Issue!

In this edition of The JRB—which marks the start of our fourth year in business (our first issue was published way back in May 2017)—we present a selection of new and forthcoming books, for you to peruse from the safety of your favourite chair.

Scroll down to take a browse through our virtual shelves.

We’d also like to share some welcome good news: Rémy Ngamije has been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for a story that was first published right here in The JRB! Hearty congratulations to Rémy and the other shortlistees, Irenosen Okojie, Erica Sugo Anyadike, Chikodili Emelumadu and Jowhor Ile. Click here for more on the announcement.

Here’s the complete breakdown of Vol. 4, Issue 5, which you will also find on our issue archive page:

City Editor

• Home, for me, for writers before me, for writers after me—Lidudumalingani makes a pact with post-lockdown Joburg

Poetry

• ‘Greed—the Poem as Deadly Sin’, a new poem by Andries Bezuidenhout
• Read an excerpt from the first South African edition of the previously banned book Malibongwe: Poems from the Struggle by ANC Women, including poetry by Baleka Mbete

Photography

• [Photo Editor] A joint portrait of Imraan Coovadia and Mongane Wally Serote by Victor Dlamini
• ‘Could I be you?’ Photographs and text from Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime by David Goldblatt

Fiction

• Read an exclusive excerpt from Alain Mabanckou’s new novel The Death of Comrade President, a tale of family and revolution in postcolonial Congo
• Read an exclusive excerpt from Silver Sparrow, the new novel from award-winning author Tayari Jones
• Read an exclusive excerpt from Abi Daré’s debut novel The Girl with the Louding Voice, ‘a celebration of girls who dare to dream’
• ‘She wasn’t listening this time. She wasn’t stopping. This time she was running.’—Read an excerpt from a work in progress by Margie Orford
• When Kim Jiyoung was born, her mother held her in her arms and wept—Read an excerpt from Cho Nam-joo’s multi-million copy bestseller Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
• Small-town living during the height of the Border War—Read an excerpt from Mark Winkler’s new novel Due South of Copenhagen
• Read an excerpt from Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell—a fictionalised account of the short life of William Shakepeare’s son
• ‘A good pickpocket is also a semiotician’—Read an excerpt from Barbara Adair’s new novel WILL, the Passenger Delaying Flight …

Short stories

• Read an excerpt from a new short story by Ama Ata Aidoo, from the book Between the Generations: An Anthology for Ama Ata Aidoo at 80
• Read an excerpt from Sifiso Mzobe’s new short story collection, Searching for Simphiwe

Nonfiction

• Read an exclusive excerpt from Jacob Dlamini’s new book The Terrorist Album: Apartheid’s Insurgents, Collaborators, and the Security Police
• ‘The last moments before the downfall of any dictator are all surprisingly similar’—Read an excerpt from The Dictatorship Syndrome by Alaa Al Aswany
• ‘I was outed before I was ready, but there was nothing I could do’—Read an excerpt from Jamil F Khan’s new book Khamr: The Makings of a Waterslams
• ‘I would stare at this monstrous building trying to visualise my uncle falling to his death’—Read an excerpt from The Murder of Ahmed Timol by Imtiaz A Cajee
• ‘At the beginning, it wasn’t called feminism. It was called an attitude problem.’—Read Neliswa Tshazi’s essay from Living While Feminist
• Read an excerpt from a new edition of DDT Jabavu’s travelogue In India and East Africa / E-Indiya nase East Africa, in isiXhosa and English

The JRB Daily

• 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced—including Rémy Ngamije’s ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’, first published in The JRB
• 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners announced—Colson Whitehead becomes only the fourth author to win fiction prize for the second time
• ‘A role model for an entire generation of African writers’—Zukiswa Wanner wins prestigious Goethe Medal, along with Elvira Espejo Ayca and Ian McEwan
• ‘Providing hope, a moment of escape and a point of connection’—heavy-hitting shortlist announced for 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction
• ‘Funny, tragic and defiant in the face of politics, bigotry and injustice’—2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced
• Finalists announced for the 2020 Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique—celebrating African writing in French, produced by African publishers
• South African poet Mangaliso Buzani wins Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry

Cover image: Pippa Malec