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Afrikaans

[Fiction Issue] ‘A Boer doesn’t flutter around a cloud of lightning bolts and thundercracks like a moth around a rotten apple’—Read an excerpt from Lodewyk G du Plessis’s debut novel The Dao of Daniel

The JRB presents an excerpt from The Dao of Daniel by Lodewyk G du Plessis, translated from the Afrikaans by…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘That boy is a snake, I’m telling you … A green snake in green grass’—Read an excerpt from Leye Adenle’s new novel Unfinished Business

The JRB presents an excerpt from Unfinished Business, the new Amaka thriller by Leye Adenle. Unfinished BusinessLeye AdenleCassava Republic Press,…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘There will be time to explore all of this during your stay’—Read an exclusive excerpt from Jarred Thompson’s forthcoming debut novel The Institute for Creative Dying

The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Institute for Creative Dying, Jarred Thompson’s forthcoming debut novel, which will be…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘A strange guest invited into our house to stay forever’—Read an excerpt from Almini van der Merwe’s forthcoming debut Ghost Limb

The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Ghost Limb, the debut novel by Almini van der Merwe, which will be…

Africa

[Fiction Issue] ‘We thought she’d welcome us. We thought it was simple’—Read an excerpt from Saleh Addonia’s short story ‘She is Another Country’

The JRB presents an excerpt from ‘She is Another Country’, a short story from The Feeling House, the debut collection…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘What’s Nigeria got to do with us? … They hate us there.’—Read an excerpt from Okechukwu Nzelu’s novel Here Again Now

The JRB presents an excerpt from Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu. Here Again Now Okechukwu NzeluLittle, Brown, 2022 Ekene…

Africa

[Fiction Issue] Read an excerpt from Victor Forna’s short story ‘They Will Fly with Blooded Wings’, from the Caine Prize anthology A Mind to Silence and Other Stories

The JRB presents an excerpt from Victor Forna’s short story ‘They Will Fly with Blooded Wings’, excerpted from A Mind…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘As if with an invisible thread, they were bound together by their circumstances’—Read an excerpt from Shevlyn Mottai’s debut novel Across the Kala Pani

The JRB presents an excerpt from Across the Kala Pani, the debut novel by Shevlyn Mottai. Across the Kala PaniShevlyn…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘You’ll appeal more to audiences who’ve never seen people like you’—Read an excerpt from Laila Manack’s debut novel Sisters of the Circus

The JRB presents an excerpt from Sisters of the Circus, the debut novel by Laila Manack. Sisters of the CircusLaila…

Book excerpts

[Fiction Issue] ‘You need a plan … To lose your temper is to lose the battle’—Read an excerpt from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel The Marriage Portrait

The JRB presents an excerpt from The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. The Marriage PortraitMaggie O’FarrellHeadline, 2022 Venison baked in…

Fiction

One part magical realism, one part crime thriller, one part romance, rendered entirely in patois—Shayera Dark reviews Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s When We Were Birds

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s debut novel When We Were Birds makes compelling work of how a world in which the living…

Sponsored

[Sponsored] ‘I swear you can’t make stuff like this up’—Read an excerpt from Tshidiso Moletsane’s Sunday Times Fiction Prize-winning novel Junx

Penguin Random House has shared an excerpt from Junx, the debut novel from Tshidiso Moletsane, winner of the 2022 Sunday Times Fiction…

Fiction

‘It is heartening to read introspective characters who don’t believe everything they think is interesting’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Elif Batuman’s new novel Either/Or

Elif Batuman’s Either/Or is a new and worthy entry into the well-populated gallery of erudite books about people learning how…

Poetry

‘Unapologetic, evocative and darkly humorous’—Dimakatso Sedite reviews Bury Me Naked, the debut collection of poetry from Teamhw SbonguJesu

Teamhw SbonguJesu’s debut collection of poetry, Bury Me Naked, delivers a conscientious, humorous, much-needed lesson in a poetics of voice…

Fiction

‘When the Booker longlisting happened, I thought, oh, I’m going to have to start writing again’—Karen Jennings chats to Jennifer Malec about writing, fame and loneliness (Plus: exclusive audio)

Author Karen Jennings was in conversation with The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec at the Origins Centre in Johannesburg recently, as…

Features

Helping new perspectives and worlds of experience be heard—Karin Schimke visits Paulet House, home of the Jakes Gerwel Foundation writer’s residency

The R335 curves around the eastern border of Addo Elephant Park and spools north through the cushiony green hills of…

Sponsored

[Sponsored] The Unaccountables: The Powerful Politicians and Corporations who Profit from Impunity—an urgent and passionately argued call to action

The Unaccountables: The Powerful Politicians and Corporations who Profit from Impunity, edited by Michael Marchant, Mamello Mosiana, Ra’eesa Pather and…

Africa

[The JRB exclusive] ‘Over the months, we found more and more of Wayne’s drawings, those bundles of thin lines on the walls’—Read an excerpt from Namwali Serpell’s new novel The Furrows

The JRB presents an excerpt from The Furrows: An Elegy, the new novel from award-winning author Namwali Serpell. The FurrowsNamwali…

Book excerpts

[The JRB exclusive] ‘The first wound for all of us who are classified as “black” is empire’—Read an excerpt from Tsitsi Dangarembga’s new book Black and Female

The JRB presents an excerpt from Black and Female by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Black and FemaleTsitsi DangarembgaFaber & Faber, 2022 Read…

Book excerpts

‘I danced a saraband with my parents. Their love dissolved my old fear’—Read an excerpt from Abdourahman A Waberi’s award-winning novel Why Do You Dance When You Walk

The JRB presents an excerpt from Why Do You Dance When You Walk by Djiboutian novelist Abdourahman A Waberi, winner…

Biography & Memoir

‘I was an identity-less person at the mercy of apartheid officials’—Read an excerpt from Cleaner’s Boy: A Resistance Road to a Liberated Life by Patric Tariq Mellet

The JRB presents an excerpt from Patric Tariq Mellet’s autobiography Cleaner’s Boy: A Resistance Road to a Liberated Life. Cleaner’s…

Biography & Memoir

‘There was a heated discussion about me going to work for this “native” paper’—Read an excerpt from Freedom Writer, the memoir of legendary journalist Juby Mayet

The JRB presents an excerpt from Freedom Writer: My Life and Times by the late Juby Mayet. Freedom Writer: My…