Binyavanga Wainaina, 1971–2019, RIP
Kenyan author and activist Binyavanga Wainaina has died, at the age of forty-eight. Wainaina passed away at 10 pm on…
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[The JRB Daily] 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Non-fiction shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and the Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Non-fiction have been announced….
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced, featuring stories that tackle ‘the ordinary in an extraordinary manner’
The shortlist for the twentieth edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced, featuring writers from Cameroon, Ethiopia,…
[The JRB Daily] Call for submissions from African writers: The Nalubaale Review, a literary magazine based in Uganda
The Nalubaale Review, a literary magazine based in Uganda, is calling for submissions of short stories, poems, essays, journals and photography…
[The JRB Daily] Commonwealth Short Story Prize announces all-women shortlist of regional winners—Africa’s winner is Zambian writer Mbozi Haimbe
The regional winners of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been announced: five stories that ‘tackle big issues’ with ‘a…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 5—our birthday issue!
Imraan Coovadia • Ivan Vladislavić • Pwaangulongii Dauod • Panashe Chigumadzi • Efemia Chela • Wamuwi Mbao • Makhosazana Xaba…
‘Ace Magashule’s rise reveals the weakness of the centre’—Imraan Coovadia reviews Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s Gangster State
Imraan Coovadia reviews Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s new book, Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture. Pieter-Louis Myburgh Gangster State: Unravelling…
[Sponsored] BlackBird Books reveals exciting new look with two novels by debut authors—The Eternal Audience of One and If You Keep Digging
BlackBird Books has revealed the covers for two new books—featuring the publisher’s bold new look! The books are The Eternal Audience…
‘The fallible memory is surely at the heart of writing fiction’—Jennifer Malec interviews Ivan Vladislavić about his latest novel, The Distance
The JRB Patron Ivan Vladislavić chats to Editor Jennifer Malec about memory, nostalgia and his latest novel, The Distance. Ivan…
Voices as powerful as guns: Panashe Chigumadzi on Dorothy Masuka’s (w)ri(o)ting woman-centred Pan-Africanism
The JRB Contributing Editor Panashe Chigumadzi presents a new reading of the work, career and life of Dorothy Masuka, arguing that…
[Sponsored] A completely original talent coming into his full powers—Announcing Masande Ntshanga’s new novel Triangulum
That’s how the metropolis had ordered us. Its scaffolding and thoroughfares were testaments to the might of its vertical ambition;…
Rough honesty, ample sex and ripe desire—Efemia Chela reads Leïla Slimani’s Adèle, Ariana Harwicz’s Die, My Love and Melissa Broder’s The Pisces
The JRB Contributing Editor Efemia Chela reads Adèle, Die, My Love and The Pisces, three stirring psychological novels, kindred portraits of contemporary womanhood….
Discovering a Nervous Condition—an essay by Pwaangulongii Dauod on the geometry of darkness
The JRB presents new narrative non-fiction by Pwaangulongii Dauod. In December of 2014, barely one week after the department reluctantly…
[Sponsored] A rebel in both politics and sex—The Love Song of André P Brink, the first biography of the esteemed writer, by Leon de Kock
The Love Song of André P Brink, Leon de Kock’s eagerly awaited account of André Brink’s life, is out in May…
Dry like steel: A wrecking ball of a book—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Adam Habib’s Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall by Adam Habib, finding it engrossing, but ultimately unconvincing. Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall…
Four new poems by Annwen Bates
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Annwen Bates. ~~~ Private and confidential Between 7 and 7.54…
[Sponsored] Find out more about Lacuna, Fiona Snyckers’s response to JM Coetzee’s Disgrace from the point of view of Lucy Lurie
Fiona Snyckers’s new novel Lacuna, a response to JM Coetzee’s Disgrace written from the point of view of Lucy Lurie, is out now…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘Windhoek has three temperatures: hot, mosquito, and fucking cold’—Read an excerpt from The Eternal Audience of One, the debut novel by Rémy Ngamije
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Eternal Audience of One, the forthcoming debut novel by Rwandan-born Namibian writer…
[City Editor] Finding out you’re big in Myanmar—and a caution on the potential effects of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill
City Editor Niq Mhlongo finds a cautionary tale in an interaction with one of his (heretofore unknown) international publishers. In…
[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from Makhosazana Xaba’s new collection of poetry, The Alkalinity of Bottled Water
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Alkalinity of Bottled Water, the new collection of poetry by The JRB Patron…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Lesego Rampolokeng and Lauren Beukes by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Visit the ten-year retrospective of…
New official « Dictionnaire des francophones » will compile the varieties of French spoken around the world
Every French-speaking traveller knows it better than anyone else: the French language is the same, but each time different, on…
[The JRB Daily] Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist revealed—‘a diverse range of voices and nationalities’
The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, awarded annually to the ‘best, eligible full-length novel in English’ by a woman,…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists announced
The longlists for the 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been revealed! The duo of awards—the Alan Paton Award for…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced, including writers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia
The shortlist for the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been announced. South African writer Alex Latimer and South Africa-based…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Man Booker International Prize shortlist announced—an all-female list of translators, alongside five female authors
The shortlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize, celebrating the ‘finest works of translated fiction from around the world’, has…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 4
Bongani Madondo • Rofhiwa Maneta • Mubanga Kalimamukwento • Tymon Smith • Mbali Sikakana • Hedley Twidle • Sandile Ngidi…
A book written by a great writer who wants to be everything to everyone—Tymon Smith reviews Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a frustrating could’ve, would’ve, should’ve affair, although it may yet prove to be the beginning…
[Sponsored] ‘We are willing to forcefully change our society if the need arises’—Rekgotsofetse Chikane on #FeesMustFall
Rekgotsofetse Chikane, youth activist and author of Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation, spoke to The Reading List about the nature of…
Scenes from a Marriage for the Beyhive generation—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Ordinary People by Diana Evans
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Diana Evans’s novel Ordinary People, which has been longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction….
‘A literary con’—Hedley Twidle rereads Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost by Dugmore Boetie, the joker in the pack of Sophiatown-era life writing
In this excerpt from his forthcoming book on non-fiction in South African literature, Experiments with Truth, Hedley Twidle revisits Dugmore…
[Sponsored] Gangster State by Pieter-Louis Myburgh—the explosive new book unravelling Ace Magashule’s web of capture
Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture by Pieter-Louis Myburgh is available now from Penguin Random House. In spite of Cyril Ramaphosa’s…
This is how we lost him—Bongani Madondo and Rofhiwa Maneta remember K Sello Duiker
K Sello Duiker emerged on the African literary scene with a visceral two-punch combo, the novels Thirteen Cents (2000) and…
[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s Dinaane Debut Fiction Award-winning novel, The Mourning Bird
The JRB presents an excerpt from Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s forthcoming novel, The Mourning Bird. The Mourning Bird, which was the winner of this…
[Sponsored] What happens when the last breath stops? Read an excerpt from The Blackridge House by Julia Martin
Jonathan Ball Publishers has shared an extract from The Blackridge House by Julia Martin. The Blackridge House is a meditation on…
Is South African literature perceived as insular? Mbali Sikakana talks to Michael Barron of Melville House Publishing
Despite a strong heritage stretching back more than a century, South African fiction remains largely unfamiliar—apart from a handful of…
[The JRB digital exclusive] Read Issue #1 of eMagqumeni: Place of the Hills, a new graphic novel by Nathi Ngubane and Azad Essa
The JRB presents the digital debut of eMagqumeni: Place of the Hills, a new graphic novel by Nathi Ngubane and Azad…
[Sponsored] Vagabond—Lerato Mogoatlhe’s hilarious and honest account of her five years of living as a drifter in Africa
Vagabond: Wandering Through Africa on Faith by Lerato Mogoatlhe is out from BlackBird Books in April 2019! ‘Sometime in November 2007…
Three new poems by Sandile Ngidi
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Sandile Ngidi. Don’t Tell Me Anything Now Brenda’s on stage,…
Heat, hunger and hidden spots—Sifiso Mzobe introduces Niq Mhlongo to Durban
Sifiso Mzobe shows his fellow scribe, and JRB City Editor, Niq Mhlongo around his hometown of Durban during the Time…