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Fiction

‘My main objective is still to help build a bigger reader base of fiction in this country and beyond’—Nozizwe Cynthia Jele chats to Jennifer Malec about her new book, The Ones with Purpose

Editorial Advisory Panel member Nozizwe Cynthia Jele chatted to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about her new novel, The Ones with Purpose, which…

Biography & Memoir

The hidden history of an ordinary umZulu woman who asserted her freedom—Makhosazana Xaba reviews Nomavenda Mathiane’s Eyes in the Night: An Untold Zulu Story

Nomavenda Mathiane’s Eyes in the Night: An Untold Zulu Story illuminates the times, spaces and voices in-between, writes The JRB…

Africa

The JRB Exclusive: Read an excerpt from An Eternity in Tangiers, a graphic novel that evokes the mental and physical limbo of migrancy, by Faustin Titi and Eyoum Nganguè

The JRB is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from the graphic novel An Eternity in Tangiers, by Ivorian illustrator…

Biography & Memoir

‘I am me; I am black; I must be proud of my blackness.’—Read an excerpt from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s memoir, 491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has died in Johannesburg at the age of eighty-one. Read an excerpt from her prison journal, published in 2013,…

Fiction

[City Editor] ‘I try to appreciate township solidarity without romanticising it’: Niq Mhlongo chats to Jennifer Malec about Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree

The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec chatted to City Editor Niq Mhlongo about the banning of Inxeba, writing to music, and his brand…

Fiction

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…

Book excerpts

‘Spending time with Bra Willie is the closest thing to being in touch with the soul of this country’: Read Mandla Langa’s Introduction to Keorapetse Kgositsile’s Homesoil in My Blood

Homesoil in My Blood: A Trilogy Keorapetse Kgositsile Xarra Books, 2018 Exclusive to The JRB, we present author Mandla Langa’s…