Makhosazana Xaba • Masiyaleti Mbewe • Wamuwi Mbao • Jarred Thompson • Simon van Schalkwyk • Franki Jenkins • Werner Pretorius • Duane Jethro • Tshegofatso Nkwane • Shubnum Khan • Mubanga Kalimamukwento • Tsitsi Mapepa • Diane Awerbuck • Magogodi oaMphela Makhene • Hamza Koudri • SE Bhamjee • Byron Loker • iyra e m maharaj • Victor Dlamini • Tymon Smith
Welcome to the fifth issue of Volume 7 of The Johannesburg Review of Books—our seventh annual Fiction Issue!
Seven years, seven fiction issues, and to scratch that creative writing itch, we have new original stories from Masiyaleti Mbewe, Wamuwi Mbao, Jarred Thompson, Simon van Schalkwyk, Werner Pretorius, Duane Jethro, Franki Jenkins and Tshegofatso Nkwane.
We’re also delighted to share an exclusive first look at a work in progress by our Patron, Makhosazana Xaba.
Elsewhere in the issue, get a sneak peek of the forthcoming novels by Shubnum Khan (The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil) and SE Bhamjee (Home Scar), as well as the recently published Inside your body there are flowers by Diane Awerbuck, Ndima Ndima by Tsitsi Mapepa, Innards by Magogodi oaMphela Makhene and Sand Roses by Hamza Koudri. We also feature a story from Byron Loker‘s collection New Swell, forthcoming early next year in a new edition.
Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology will shortly be available in South Africa, all being well and just, and until then you can whet your apetite with an excerpt from one of the stories in the collection, Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s ‘Mastitis’.
We also feature poetry by iyra e m maharaj, from her collection earth-circuit, while our Photo Editor Victor Dlamini shares a portrait of Teju Cole.
And while you’re feasting your eyes and mind on the above, feast your ears on ‘A Christmas Miracle at the South African Post Office’, the JRB playlist for this issue, compiled by Tymon Smith.
Enjoy the issue, and let us know what you think on Facebook or Twitter.
Here’s the complete breakdown of Vol. 7, Issue 5, which you will also find on our issue archive page:
New original fiction
- ‘There’s No Hurry In Botswana’ by Masiyaleti Mbewe
- ‘A History of Phantoms’ by Wamuwi Mbao
- ‘Centres of Gravity’ by Jarred Thompson
- ‘Do You Remember That Time We Saw the UFO Over Jansenville?’ by Werner Pretorius
- ‘Nightcrawler’ by Simon van Schalkwyk
- ‘Non Compliant’ by Duane Jethro
- ‘The Deep River of Missing Things’ by Tshegofatso Nkwane
- ‘Bakang Goes to Sea’ by Franki Jenkins
Works in progress
Forthcoming works
- ‘No one in Durban remembers a Christmas as hot as this’—Read an excerpt from Shubnum Khan’s forthcoming novel The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil
- ‘Once I lay outside for five days. In the rain.’—Read an excerpt from Byron Loker’s New Swell, out soon in a new edition
- ‘Sometimes we need to lie to ourselves. It’s the only way the world makes sense’—Read an excerpt from SE Bhamjee’s debut novel Home Scar
New published fiction
- ‘You don’t expect annihilation in the afternoon’—Read an excerpt from Diane Awerbuck’s new short story collection Inside your body there are flowers
- ‘The one thing I cannot give her’— Read ‘Mastitis’ by Mubanga Kalimamukwento, from Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology
- ‘And just like that, in one touch, Ruth’s trauma passed to her’—An excerpt from Tsitsi Mapepa’s debut novel Ndima Ndima
- ‘They came riding cattle lorries. Their whole world travelling with them’—Read an excerpt from Magogodi oaMphela Makhene’s Innards
- ‘This was the only way. If she let him go, it would be the end’—Read an excerpt from Hamza Koudri’s debut novel Sand Roses
Poetry
Photography
Playlist
The JRB Daily
- Paul Lynch wins the 2023 Booker Prize for his ‘soul-shattering and true’ novel Prophet Song
- 2023 South African Literary Awards winners announced
- Bulelwa Mabasa and CA Davids win the 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards
- Henrietta Rose-Innes wins 2023 UJ Prize for Literary Translation
