Transforming the real world into something strange—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Sally Rooney’s unusual and evanescent novel Normal People
Sally Rooney reshapes our understanding of the ordinary in a manner that invites us to imagine better ways of being,…
Author: Wamuwi Mbao
Where’s Mzansi noir?—Wamuwi Mbao laments the lack of dark and moody South African television adaptations
Wamuwi Mbao imagines a serial adaptation of Angela Makholwa’s Black Widow Society, a sleekly executed interpretation of HJ Golakai’s The Lazarus…
‘Utterly mysterious, and utterly worthy of our attention’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Asymmetry, the debut novel by Lisa Halliday
Lisa Halliday’s debut Asymmetry is a genuinely surprising novel, which invites us to question how men and women are rendered in…
A curiously enthralling existentialist novel—Wamuwi Mbao reviews OK, Mr Field, the debut novel by South African poet Katharine Kilalea
OK, Mr Field, the debut novel by acclaimed South African poet Katharine Kilalea, is a pleasingly minimalist, idiosyncratic novel, writes…
Reading social reality in the writhing surface of the city—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Colson Whitehead’s The Colossus of New York
Colson Whitehead’s The Colossus of New York, reissued fourteen years after its first publication, endures in the quality of its writing and…
One of the decade’s most intriguing works of fiction: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel Freshwater
Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater is a striking, startling, butterfly-net of a novel, writes Wamuwi Mbao.
Happily-ever-after takes a dark turn: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Julian Barnes’s new novel, The Only Story
The Only Story is Julian Barnes’s thirteenth novel in a career spanning thirty-eight years, but his gift for turning grim…
Those who migrate remake the places they arrive in: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Mohsin Hamid’s latest novel, Exit West
Mohsin Hamid’s new book, Exit West, is a work of speculative fiction that will be read as ‘The Great Migration…
A novel that takes up Baldwin’s declaration that the story of America ‘is not a pretty one’: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, winner of the 2017 National Book Award for fiction. Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn…
[The JRB Daily] Wamuwi Mbao: No, the award-winning film Inxeba isn’t a disrespectful gay sex romp
Image: A scene from ‘Inxeba’. Supplied Wamuwi Mbao, Stellenbosch University Why has a film that holds important lessons for South Africans…
JM Coetzee is tired: Wamuwi Mbao reports from the ‘Photographs from Boyhood’ exhibition in Cape Town
An exhibition of JM Coetzee’s newly discovered childhood photography was recently held in Cape Town. Wamuwi Mbao was there. With…
Ben Okri demonstrates the value of dreams in a ramshackle world: Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Magic Lamp
Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Magic Lamp, a new collection of meditations and stories by Ben Okri, illustrated by Rosemary Clunie. The…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Lagos is home, the place where I don’t have to explain myself’—Chibundu Onuzo chats to Wamuwi Mbao about Welcome to Lagos
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Wamuwi Mbao chats to Chibundu Onuzo. Welcome to Lagos Chibundu Onuzo Faber and…
[Fiction issue] ‘Thirty’, a short story by Wamuwi Mbao
Exclusive to The JRB, a new short story by our Editorial Advisory Panel member Wamuwi Mbao. ~ ~ ~ Thirty…
Beware of angels and other executives of perfection: Wamuwi Mbao appraises JM Coetzee’s Late Essays
Like watching JM Coetzee solve a series of Rubik’s cubes, only more entertaining: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Late Essays: 2006–2017. Late Essays: 2006–2017…
Disrupting the solipsism of the personal photograph: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Teju Cole’s new book, Blind Spot
How streaked we are by what we see: Teju Cole is at his engrossing best in his new book, Blind…
‘A writer utterly in control of her medium’: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Scaachi Koul’s glittering collection of essays, One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
In her debut collection of essays, One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi Koul delivers…
Eking out a deeper truth on the rough seas of historical fiction: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Fred Khumalo’s Dancing the Death Drill
Dancing the Death Drill Fred Khumalo Umuzi, 2017 The historical novel presents rough seas for a writer. Attaching a novel…
Caught in the surreal postcolonial swirl: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou
Black Moses Alain Mabanckou Serpent’s Tail 2017 (Man Booker International Prize finalist) A young man visits a doctor in the…
All too exhilarating: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Naomi Alderman’s Baileys Prize-shortlisted sci-fi novel The Power
Update: Naomi Alderman has since been announced as the winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction The Power Naomi…