Makhosazana Xaba • Sarah Lubala • Wamuwi Mbao • Michael Titlestad • Anna Stroud • Jarred Thompson • Mphuthumi Ntabeni • Musaemura B Zimunya • Shayera Dark • Harry Garuba • Khadija Heeger • Sindiwe Magona • Nthikeng Mohlele • Ukamaka Olisakwe • Wisani Mushwana • Sanya Osha • Julian Brown • Cecile Pin • Sarah Isaacs • Sipho Sithole • Sharon Dodua Otoo • Victor Dlamini • Tymon Smith
Welcome to the third issue of Volume 7 of The Johannesburg Review of Books!
In this issue, Wamuwi Mbao reviews Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang, ‘an excellent example of the reviewer’s least favourite thing’; Michael Titlestad engages with Eben Venter’s ‘singular and significant’ new novel Decima; Mphuthumi Ntabeni dips into Eye Brother Horn by Bridget Pitt, ‘an intsomi, a fable of biblical and mythological proportions’; and Shayera Dark appraises Bisi Adjapon’s ‘pacy, character-driven novel’ Daughter in Exile.
In the third in a series of long-form interviews to be hosted on this platform, which will focus on contemporary poetry collections by Black women and non-binary poets, The JRB Patron Makhosazana Xaba chats to Sarah Lubala about migration, family, identity and her book A History of Disappearance. Anna Stroud sits down with Jarred Thompson for an interview on his debut novel The Institute for Creative Dying, which imagines a radical alternative to life and death.
This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Chimukwembe demonstration, aka the ‘Pots and Pans Protest’, a student uprising in Harare, Zimbabwe (then Salisbury, Rhodesia) that had lasting consequences for Zimbabwean literature. In an essay for this issue, author and poet Musaemura Zimunya, a key protagonist of the protest, remembers.
In our survey of new and forthcoming fiction, we present for your enjoyment ‘A World Minus Women’, excerpted from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel, Breasts, etc, as well as an exclusive excerpt from Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs, winner of the inaugural Island Prize. We are also pleased to share extracts from A Soft Landing, the buzzy debut novel by Wisani Mushwana, and Ada’s Realm, the long-awaited novel by Sharon Dodua Otoo, winner of the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. We also feature an excerpt from Cecile Pin’s debut novel Wandering Souls, which was longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and a preview from Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name, the new novel from Ukamaka Olisakwe.
To commemorate the eleventh anniversary of the Marikana massacre, which took place on on 16 August 2012, we have published the story of one of the murdered miners, Tembelakhe Mati, excerpted from Julian Brown’s book Marikana: A People’s History.
In non-fiction, read ‘I Was Forced to Come Out’, an excerpt from the forthcoming book Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria’s Queer Men Speak; ‘Clawing At Stones’, from the new book I Write the Yawning Void: Selected Essays of Sindiwe Magona; an excerpt from Maye! Maye!: The History and Heritage of the Kwa Mai Mai Market; and Sanya Osha’s Foreword to the new reissue of the late Harry Garuba’s poetry collection, Shadow and Dream, from which we also feature an excerpt elsewhere in the issue.
In our poetry section, read the work of Khadija Heeger, from her collection Thicker Than Sorrow, while from our Photo Editor Victor Dlamini this month, a literary portrait of Dudu Busani-Dube.
And while you’re reading, enjoy Through the fog of pseudoephedrine, codeine and paracetamol, a playlist compiled by Tymon Smith.
Here’s the complete breakdown of Vol. 7, Issue 3, which you will also find on our issue archive page:
Reviews
- ‘An excellent example of the reviewer’s least favourite thing’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang
- ‘Few novels preoccupy me; Decima inhabits me’—Michael Titlestad reviews Eben Venter’s ‘singular and significant’ new novel
- ‘An intsomi, a fable of biblical and mythological proportions’—Mphuthumi Ntabeni reviews Eye Brother Horn by Bridget Pitt
- A novel of many dark nights and unrelenting mishaps—Shayera Dark reviews Bisi Adjapon’s Daughter in Exile
Interviews
- ‘As an immigrant, family photos are elegies to a lost world’—Sarah Lubala in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
- ‘We, human beings, know how our stories end—with our heads blossoming into daisies’—Jarred Thompson chats to Anna Stroud about his novel The Institute for Creative Dying
Essay
Poetry
- Poetry by the late Harry Garuba, from Shadow and Dream
- Poetry by Khadija Heeger, from Thicker Than Sorrow
Fiction excerpts
- [The JRB exclusive] ‘How are we supposed to fight something we can’t see?’—Read an excerpt from Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs, winner of the inaugural Island Prize
- Read ‘A World Minus Women’, excerpted from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel, Breasts, etc
- ‘But the dreams didn’t cease immediately, and like a laceration, the wound closed with time’—Read an excerpt from Wisani Mushwana’s debut novel A Soft Landing
- ‘There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies—everything in between is speculation’—Read an excerpt from Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin
- ‘Even centuries later, I still will not know what I was thinking’—Read an excerpt from Sharon Dodua Otoo’s debut novel Ada’s Realm
- ‘But when she tried to cry, all that spilled out of her was laughter’—Read an excerpt from Ukamaka Olisakwe’s new novel Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name
Non-fiction
- ‘It is clear he tried to escape the clash’—Read the late Tembelakhe Mati’s story, from Marikana: A People’s History by Julian Brown
- ‘It lent a profound sense of poetic liberation to an entire generation of poets’—Read Sanya Osha’s Foreword to the new reissue of the late Harry Garuba’s poetry collection, Shadow and Dream
- ‘I felt I was the only one with that type of urge in Nigeria, so I ignored it.’—An excerpt from Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria’s Queer Men Speak
- ‘I write to leave footsteps’—An excerpt from I Write the Yawning Void: Selected Essays of Sindiwe Magona
- ‘Tucked under a bridge in downtown Johannesburg, a place where culture, heritage and tradition converge’—Read an excerpt from Maye! Maye!: The History and Heritage of the Kwa Mai Mai Market
Photography
Music
The JRB Daily
- Shortlists announced for 2023 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English
- Shortlists announced for 2023 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English
- ‘A list to bring wonder’—2023 Booker Prize longlist announced, including Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ and Tan Twan Eng
- 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced, showcasing ‘the depth and scope of writing on the continent and beyond’
- Barbara Kingsolver becomes first two-time winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her ‘deeply powerful’ novel Demon Copperhead
- Sudanese writer Reem Gaafar wins 2023 Island Prize for ‘compelling, profound and brilliant’ debut novel A Mouth Full of Salt
- ‘A brilliant novel, full of irony and melancholy’—Georgi Gospodinov becomes first ever Bulgarian to win the International Booker Prize, for Time Shelter
