[Sponsored] Win a copy of The Fatuous State of Severity by Phumlani Pikoli
‘Hauntingly engaging’ – Thandiwe Ntshinga, The South African ‘Crisp, experimental and beautifully weird’ – Phumlani S Langa, City Press Pan…
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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…
New short fiction: ‘Intimates’ by Mbali Sikakana
The JRB presents a new short story by Mbali Sikakana. Intimates One day she takes a plane to a small…
[Sponsored] Like Sodium in Water, a memoir of post-independence Zimbabwe by Hayden Eastwood
Like Sodium in Water: A Memoir of Home and Heartache by Hayden Eastwood is out in March from Jonathan Ball Publishers. ‘Dad…
Two new poems by Mikael Johani
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Mikael Johani. chapel hill stuck a pin in…
A real-life Yemeni-American hero: Imraan Coovadia reviews Dave Eggers’s new book, The Monk of Mokha
The Monk of Mokha’s easygoing optimism glides over the prejudices and hatred that underdog minorities face in the United States,…
[Sponsored] Twists that will shock even the savviest reader: Read an excerpt from The Chalk Man, the debut novel by CJ Tudor
Penguin Random House has shared an excerpt from The Chalk Man, the new novel by CJ Tudor. Expertly alternating between flashbacks…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads José Eduardo Agualusa’s Angolan War thought experiment, A General Theory of Oblivion
Luanda’s Shrödinger’s Woman: Efemia Chela travels to Angola with José Eduardo Agualusa’s A General Theory of Oblivion, which was shortlisted for…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Perfect Hlongwane and Yewande Omotoso by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Don’t miss the ten-year retrospective…
‘How does one take part in a national dialogue when your voice carries this baggage?’ Antjie Krog interviews award-winning poet Karin Schimke
‘I cannot un-white my voice, nor can I stop writing.’ Poet, academic and author Antjie Krog interviews Karin Schimke about…
‘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…
‘Writing allowed me to honour the connections between life and death’—Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa talks to Tiah Beautement about her memoir, Flame and Song
Tiah Beautement chats to Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa about her poetry and prose memoir, Flame and Song, which traverses Uganda, Addis…
The PEN International Women’s Manifesto: ‘The act of silencing a person is to deny their existence. It is a kind of death’
Margie Orford, President Emerita of PEN South Africa and board member of PEN International, on the PEN International Women’s Manifesto,…
Mais non, Monsieur le Président! Alain Mabanckou and Véronique Tadjo take on Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron has made his support of the French language, Francophonie and the French-speaking world (especially the African…
Skin and the Arab Spring: Read an excerpt from Tunisian author Azza Filali’s Les Intranquilles
Words without Borders’s issue dedicated to Tunisian women writers got lost in the flurry of the end of 2017, with…
Is Cyril Ramaphosa the man to lead South Africa out of its political and economic crisis? Read an excerpt from Ramaphosa: The Man Who Would Be King by Ray Hartley
The JRB presents an excerpt from Ramaphosa: The Man Who Would Be King by Ray Hartley. Ramaphosa: The Man Who…
[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…
[The JRB Daily] Thirty-eight Nobel laureates, including JM Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro and Wole Soyinka, write open letter to Turkey’s President Erdoğan over threats to freedom of expression
Thirty-eight Nobel laureates have written an open letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to draw his attention to damage…
[The JRB Daily] Caine Prize for African Writing director Lizzy Attree stands down
The Caine Prize for African Writing has announced that director Lizzy Attree is leaving the organisation. Attree has served as director…
[The JRB Daily] 2017 Africa Centre Artists In Residency shortlists announced
The Africa Centre has announced the shortlists for the 2017 Artists In Residency programmes, including The JRB Contributing Editor Efemia Chela. The…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 2, Issue 2 (February 2018)
Welcome to the second issue of Volume 2 of The Johannesburg Review of Books. This month, we are excited and…
Exquisite, but a reminder that there will never be another Baldwin: TO Molefe appraises I Am Not Your Negro, a year after its release
TO Molefe believes Raoul Peck should have claimed I Am Not Your Negro as a new, original work, not as James…
[Sponsored] ‘A Woman’s Place is in The Struggle’—Read an excerpt from The Knock on the Door
Pan Macmillan South Africa has shared an excerpt from The Knock on the Door: The Story of the Detainees’ Parents Support…
[City Editor] Read an exclusive excerpt from Niq Mhlongo’s forthcoming book: Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree
The JRB is proud to present new fiction from our City Editor, Niq Mhlongo, from his forthcoming short story collection,…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads The Ultimate Tragedy, the first novel from Guinea-Bissau ever to be translated into English
Efemia Chela travels to Guinea-Bissau with Abdulai Silá’s The Ultimate Tragedy in The JRB’s Temporary Sojourner series. The Ultimate Tragedy (A Última Tragédia)…
[Sponsored] Read the opening chapters of Peter Carey’s new book A Long Way From Home
A Long Way From Home, the new book from award-winning author Peter Carey, is out soon from Jonathan Ball Publishers….
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…
‘I started writing the book in a fit of anger with Fees Must Fall activists’—Rehana Rossouw chats to Jennifer Malec about New Times
Rehana Rossouw’s critically acclaimed debut novel, What Will People Say?, was shortlisted for the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and won…
[Sponsored] Mozambique and Brazil: Analysing and investigating a historical relationship
Brazil and Mozambique: Forging New Partnerships or Developing Dependency?, by Chris Alden, Sergio Chichava and Ana Cristina Alves, is out now from Jacana…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits: Victor Dlamini’s tribute in pictures to Hugh Masekela, the magician
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Don’t miss the ten-year retrospective…
‘These were not men fighting, but corpses’—Read an excerpt from Marcus Low’s Asylum
Read an excerpt from Marcus Low’s debut novel Asylum—an existential thriller set in a quarantine facility in the arid Karoo—which…
[Sponsored] ‘Good writing inspires creativity!’ – Mary Lynn Bracht chats about her debut novel, White Chrysanthemum
White Chrysanthemum, the powerful and moving debut novel by Mary Lynn Bracht, is out now from Penguin Random House South Africa. In…
New short fiction: ‘The day the white people walked into the sea’ by Stacy Hardy
The JRB presents a new short story by Stacy Hardy. The day the white people walked into the sea As…
Three poems by Shailja Patel
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents three poems by Shailja Patel. Syllabus Note O leftist men who heart critiques of Hillary and…
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…
Diane Awerbuck mostly does not review Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties, but mostly remembers her mother, horror fan supreme
Second-wave feminism, mansplained: Diane Awerbuck finds much to disappoint in Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties. Sleeping Beauties Stephen King…
A flawed take on immigration and the rise of the right: Lebohang Mojapelo reviews Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s Go Back to Where You Came From
Fear of a black planet, rather than ‘economic anxiety’, gnaws at the West’s hallowed liberal democratic principles, writes Lebohang Mojapelo….
Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people: Kibo Ngowi considers the cult of intersectionality
Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people—and, crucially, neither does he aspire to be, writes Kibo Ngowi. We…
Snapshots of Death: Allegorical short fiction from Algerian writer Chawki Amari
Two men are talking in a smoke-filled room. On the carved table in the middle of the sitting room is…
Sea-shaken love from ‘The Cargo Hold of Stars’ by Mauritian poet Khal Torabully
« Et ta bouche est une syllabe mûre que seule l’empreinte des mots d’amour » Whether you have a valentine…