The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 8, Issue 4 (December 2024)—the Stranger than Fiction Issue!
Yewande Omotoso • Mandla Langa • Karen Jennings • Simon van Schalkwyk • Masiyaleti Mbewe • Wamuwi Mbao • Werner…
Category: Africa
Read ‘The Underwhelm of Bijou Benjamine’, an excerpt from a work in progress by Yewande Omotoso
The JRB presents an excerpt from a short fiction work in progress by Yewande Omotoso. The Underwhelm of Bijou Benjamine …
‘Even as I thought about my brothers, I felt this distance from them, from their spirits; they were abstract beings, as remote as characters in a dream’—An excerpt from a forthcoming novel by Mandla Langa
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Rupture, a forthcoming novel by EAP member Mandla Langa. ~~~ Since it was almost…
‘Come the first of December the chains will be broken for good’—Read an excerpt from a forthcoming novel by Karen Jennings
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The First of December, a forthcoming novel by Karen Jennings. ~~~ Of the…
Read ‘Antlers’, new short fiction by Simon van Schalkwyk
The JRB presents new short fiction by Simon van Schalkwyk. Antlers Anyone who has visited Giant’s Castle will know the story…
Read ‘Father Father Void Father Void Void Father’, new creative non-fiction by Masiyaleti Mbewe
The JRB presents a new piece of creative non-fiction by Masiyaleti Mbewe. ~~~ Father Father Void Father Void Void Father …
Read ‘Details’, new short fiction by Wamuwi Mbao
The JRB presents new short fiction by Wamuwi Mbao. ~~~ Details ~~~ Header image: Daniel Watson/Unsplash
Read ‘Die Voorkamer’, new short fiction by Werner Pretorius
The JRB presents new short fiction by Werner Pretorius. ~~~ Die Voorkamer We sat up in the big front room…
Read ‘Dog’s Life’, new short fiction by Niq Mhlongo
The JRB presents—exclusively and for the first time in English—a new short story by Niq Mhlongo. This story was first…
‘Poetry as an act of clairvoyance’—Finuala Dowling reviews Heart’s Hunger, a selection of poetry by Karen Press
To read Karen Press’s Heart’s Hunger is not just to know where we have come from, but to feel in…
‘Poetry has always been a way for me to process life’—Saaleha Idrees Bamjee in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the eighth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
‘Johannesburg provokes extreme responses, one way or the other, because it’s full of contradictions’—An interview with Ivan Vladislavic about his new book The Near North
JRB Editor Jennifer Malec interviews The JRB Patron Ivan Vladislavić about his new book, The Near North. The Near NorthIvan VladislavićPicador Africa, 2024…
Grab whatever warm slice of life you can before it turns on you—Read an excerpt from Nthato Mokgata’s debut novel Ghost in the Drum
The JRB presents an excerpt from Ghost in the Drum, the debut novel by Nthato Mokgata aka Spoek Mathambo. Ghost…
‘My pilgrimage to Durban was written before I was born’—Read an excerpt from Roohi Choudhry’s forthcoming debut novel Outside Women
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Roohi Choudhry’s debut novel Outside Women, which will be published in March 2025….
‘I don’t go home for the funeral. Except, perhaps I do …’ Read an excerpt from Anna Stroud’s debut novel Who Looks Inside
The JRB presents an excerpt from Who Looks Inside, the debut novel by Anna Stroud. Who Looks InsideAnna StroudKaravan Press,…
Poetry by Joan Metelerkamp, from Under dark under branches
The JRB presents an excerpt from Under dark under branches, the new poetry collection by Joan Metelerkamp. Under dark under…
Taking Guard in Inner-city Johannesburg—Read an excerpt from Niren Tolsi’s new book Writing Around the Wicket: Race, Class and History in South African Cricket
The JRB presents an excerpt from Writing Around the Wicket: Race, Class and History in South African Cricket by Niren…
Ambiguous utopias—Hedley Twidle salutes Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed on its 50th anniversary
Ursula K Le Guin’s masterpiece was published fifty years ago this year. In a literary outtake from his most recent…
‘In Africa, the conservative realism of the military mind met the liberatory spirit of the decolonising mind’—Read an excerpt from Soldier’s Paradise by Samuel Fury Childs Daly
The JRB presents an excerpt from Samuel Fury Childs Daly’s new book, Soldier’s Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire. Soldier′s…
One Hundred Years of Book Covers—Read an excerpt from Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press
The JRB presents an excerpt from Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press. The book is available…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Bulelwa Mabasa by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. See this ten-year retrospective of his portraits. View this…
It’s been, as they say, one helluva year—A playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
It’s the holidays, so here in slight recognition, if not celebration, is the final Radio JRB offering of the year….
[The JRB Daily] Gabrielle Mudiwa awarded inaugural Achmat Dangor Literary Prize
Gabrielle Mudiwa has won the first ever Achmat Dangor Literary Prize, an award dedicated to nurturing young, previously disadvantaged writers…
[The JRB Daily] 2024 South African Literary Awards winners announced
The winners of the 2024 South African Literary Awards (the SALAs) have been announced. The SALAs are awarded annually by…
[The JRB Daily] Jonny Steinberg and Andrew Brown win the 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards
The winners of the 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been announced. Jonny Steinberg won the Sunday Times Non-fiction Award…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 8, Issue 3 (October 2024)
Shayera Dark • Wamuwi Mbao • Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu • Makhosazana Xaba • Tariro Ndoro • Nozizwe Cynthia Jele •…
An elegant study of friendship amid the rootedness of political exile—Shayera Dark reviews Hisham Matar’s novel My Friends
In My Friends, Hisham Matar hones in on the push and pull of friendships, their guiding light and the cushion-like…
‘The readers are there, but we’re still figuring out the right distribution model to reach them’—Nozizwe Cynthia Jele introduces her new isiZulu-focused publisher, Happiness Books
Author Nozizwe Cynthia Jele has recently launched a publishing company, Happiness Books, which will specialise in books written in isiZulu. …
‘My way of writing and reading and seeing the world is not the only way’—Tariro Ndoro in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the seventh in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
[Sponsored] ‘The story started bending genres by itself’—Find out more about Charl-Pierre Naude’s new novel The Equality of Shadows
Charl-Pierre Naudé’s genre-bending new novel, The Equality of Shadows, is out now from Picador Africa. Naudé is a poet and…
‘Ngangizwa kahle ukuthi ukuhumusha kuyangikhulisa, kungisabalalisela ingqondo’—Makhosazana Xaba chats to Musawenkosi Cabe about her isiZulu translation of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth
Udliwano ndlebe mayelana nokuhushushwa kwengcwadi ka Frantz Fanon, Izimpabanga Zomhlaba, phakathi komhumushi uMakhosazana Xaba no Musawenkosi Cabe. This is a…
Ethiopia’s violence in focus—Percy Zvomuya reads regional conflict through the lens of the Tigray War
Percy Zvomuya draws on Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan’s valuable new book Understanding Ethiopia’s Tigray War in a reading of…
‘I was fascinated by the idea of women existing beyond the confines of the patriarchy and colonialism’—An interview with Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu on The Creation of Half-Broken People
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu chats to JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about her new novel, The Creation of Half-Broken People. The Creation of Half-Broken…
Three newly translated poems by Athambile Masola, from Ilifa
The JRB presents a selection of poetry by Athambile Masola. The poems were originally published in her award-winning 2021 collection…
‘The trees of the city provide a subtext for many things’—Salimah Valiani talks to Anna Stroud about her new poetry collection, IGoli/EGoli
Salimah Valiani chats to Anna Stroud about maps, trees and all the ingredients for love one can find in Johannesburg—and…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of the late Tshidiso Moletsane by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. See this ten-year retrospective of his portraits. View this…
View an excerpt of images from Zanele Muholi’s new book Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Vol. II
The JRB presents an excerpt from Zanele Muholi’s new book Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Vol. II. Somnyama Ngonyama,…
The place of death in the struggle for freedom in South Africa—Read an excerpt from Jacob Dlamini’s new book Dying for Freedom: Political Martyrdom in South Africa
The JRB presents an excerpt from Dying for Freedom: Political Martyrdom in South Africa, the new book by Jacob Dlamini. Dying…
‘Those few strands of barbed wire fence stood between her and her children, her home, her husband and her country’—Read an excerpt from the new edition of Lauretta Ngcobo’s Cross of Gold
The JRB presents an excerpt from a new edition of Lauretta Ngcobo’s seminal novel Cross of Gold. Cross of GoldLauretta…
Read an excerpt from a new edition of Alex La Guma’s A Soviet Journey, including the Foreword by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
The JRB presents an excerpt from a new edition of A Soviet Journey by Alex La Guma: A Critical Annotated…