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 JRB presents an excerpt from My Mother’s Laughter: Selected Poems by Chris van Wyk, edited by Ivan Vladislavić and…
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 …
‘How do we craft a healthy, dignified blackness, in a world where blackness is a captured identity location that needs…
Melville’s legendary haunt Xai Xai is for writers part restaurant, part sanctuary, writes guest City Editor Lidudumalingani. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s…
Whatever writing emerges from this moment will be an attempt to build a new Johannesburg, writes guest City Editor Lidudumalingani….
Johannesburg is a city that dances on the edges of elusive, and yet somehow Santu Mofokeng managed to contain it…
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Itumeleng Molefi reflects on Mona Eltahawy’s keynote address and conversation with Pumla Dineo…
As part of our January Conversation Issue, guest City Editor Lidudumalingani chats to Outlwile Tsipane about the literatures of Johannesburg….
Those who temporarily abandon Johannesburg this December—and those who stay while pining for home—must know that the city is theirs,…
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec chats to Siphiwo Mahala about his new collection of short stories, Red Apple Dreams. Mahala…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Politics and Community-Based Research: Perspectives from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg. Politics and Community-Based Research: Perspectives…
