‘Joburg is like a jilted lover’—Niq Mhlongo talks to Jennifer Malec about his latest novel, The City is Mine
Niq Mhlongo chats to JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about his new novel, The City is Mine, and the changes he’s…
Niq Mhlongo chats to JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about his new novel, The City is Mine, and the changes he’s…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Revolutionaries’ House, the latest novel from Nthikeng Mohlele. Revolutionaries’ HouseNthikeng MohleleJacana Media, 2024 Johannesburg…
Kim M Reynolds considers the historical and the personal in Uhuru Portia Phalafala’s new book Mine Mine Mine, in discussion…
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Near North, the new book by Ivan Vladislavić, which will be published…
The JRB presents Njabulo S Ndebele’s Foreword to the new sixtieth-anniversary edition of William ‘Bloke’ Modisane’s Blame Me on History….
This is the third in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
Anna Stroud chats to Jarred Thompson about The Institute for Creative Dying, his debut novel that imagines a radical alternative…
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs, winner of the 2022 Island Prize for a…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Maye! Maye!: The History and Heritage of the Kwa Mai Mai Market by Sipho…
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Resurrection, the debut novel from Sihle Qwabe. The ResurrectionSihle QwabeKwela, 2023 Read the…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Joel Cabrita’s new book Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala. Written Out:…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Hugo ka Canham’s forthcoming book Riotous Deathscapes, to be published mid-May. Riotous DeathscapesHugo ka…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Freedom Writer: My Life and Times by the late Juby Mayet. Freedom Writer: My…
The Blinded City by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon is a lucidly fascinating immersion into the world of the people who occupy the…
Lebohang Mojapelo speaks to Warsan Shire about that Beyoncé moment, the importance of bearing witness, and her new book, Bless…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Nicky Falkof’s new book Worrier State: Risk, Anxiety and Moral Panic in South Africa….
The JRB presents an excerpt from Boy on the Run by Welcome Mandla Lishivha. Boy on the RunWelcome Mandla LishivhaJacana…
‘Africa writes back.’ With these words, The Johannesburg Review of Books debuted in May 2017, announcing an ambitious programme to…
In 2020, Caroline Davis, a British scholar, now based at England’s University College London, published the book African Literature and…
There is something permanent about how Johannesburg reveals itself to anyone arriving in it, etching itself into the memory, even…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Siphiwo Mahala’s new biography, Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi….
Timothy Wright reviews Meg Samuelson’s new book, Claiming the City in South African Literature, which argues that only through writing…
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Discovery of Love, the new collection of short stories from Nthikeng Mohlele. The…
Cities and mining Underneath Johannesburg, imagine hollow cities, stretching from Soweto all the way to Turffontein, and further. As the…
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Thula Simpson’s new book History of South Africa. History of South Africa: From…
In the context of increasing scrutiny on the literary production of white writers, Ben Williams offers up some ideas on…
On Sundays, in downtown Johannesburg, on the edge of Hillbrow, encroaching into Braamfontein, queues of worshippers fill out the streets,…
The JRB presents an excerpt from By the Fading Light, the new novel from European Union Literary Award-winner Ashraf Kagee….
The JRB presents an excerpt from A Home on Vorster Street: A Memoir by Razina Theba. A Home on Vorster…
Re-mapping the city by suicide. Tiny dots of what is left when we die etched into the urban cartography. Souls…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Miriam Tlali: Writing Freedom, the latest book by Pumla Dineo Gqola, which brings together…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Trevor Ngwane’s forthcoming book Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements. Amakomiti: Grassroots…
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. Natalie Portman and I are exactly the same age, born…
The man at the bottom of Johannesburg Road in Highlands North, where Berkswell Road intersects it, punching it from the…
The JRB presents an excerpt from 1986, the new book by William Dicey. 1986William DiceyPenguin Random House SA, 2021 ~~~…
It’s an odd, even an imperfect location to build a museum—to build, many may argue, any kind of structure at…
Almost every city has been built more than once. Each phase complete with its own architecture and infrastructure and, for…
The abolition of slavery, formalised gender discrimination, apartheid and other reprehensible ways of being did not occur simply through continued…
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a new poem by Allan Kolski Horwitz. ~~~ NO ONE IS SAFE …