[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…
Category: Africa
[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…
Read an excerpt from Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela, the new isiZulu translation of Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s acclaimed novel The Ones with Purpose
The JRB presents an excerpt from Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela, a new isiZulu translation of Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s novel The Ones…
‘He cut himself from his country. He had been so proud. But he was damaged by the loss’—Read an excerpt from Lying Perfectly Still by the late Laura Fish
The JRB presents an excerpt from Lying Perfectly Still by Laura Fish, who passed away shortly before her novel’s publication….
‘Unlike any other South African poem I have come across’—Read Kelwyn Sole’s Introduction to Angifi Proctor Dladla’s epic poem Maxwell the Gorilla and the Archbishop of Soshanguve
The JRB presents Kelwin Sole’s Introduction to Maxwell the Gorilla and the Archbishop of Soshanguve, an epic poem by the…
[The JRB Daily] 2024 South African Literary Awards shortlists announced—‘reflecting the dynamic and evolving literary scene’
The shortlists for the 2024 South African Literary Awards have been announced. The SALAs are awarded annually by the wRite…
[The JRB Daily] Morabo Morojele and Jarred Thompson win 2024 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English for ‘masterful’ and ‘extraordinarily original’ novels
Morabo Morojele and Jarred Thompson have been announced as the winners of the 2024 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A triumph of language, storytelling and risk-taking’—South African writer Nadia Davids wins 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing
South African writer Nadia Davids has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing! The…
[The JRB Daily] 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been revealed. The two awards—the Non-fiction Award and the Fiction…
[The JRB Daily] Shortlists announced for 2024 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English
Header image: Wisani Mushwana, Siphokazi Magadla, Jarred Thompson, Nthikeng Mohlele, Buntu Siwisa, Morabo Morojele The shortlists for the annual University…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Inspiring new generations of literary talent’—Call for applications for the 2024 Achmat Dangor Literary Prize
Applications for the 2024 Achmat Dangor Literary Prize, an award dedicated to nurturing young, previously disadvantaged writers working in all…
[The JRB Daily] Caine Prize reveals 2024 shortlist, and plans to ‘re-centre the announcement on the African continent’
The shortlist for the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing, awarded annually for a short story by an African writer…
[The JRB Daily] Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani wins the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award for her ‘astonishingly fresh and accomplished’ novel Buried in the Chest
Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, for her novel manuscript ‘Buried…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 8, Issue 2 (June 2024)
Makhosazana Xaba • Busisiwe Mahlangu • Shayera Dark • Percy Zvomuya • Wamuwi Mbao • Jennifer Malec • Niq Mhlongo…
‘Before I even believed in myself, women writers older than me held my hand’—Busisiwe Mahlangu in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the sixth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
‘A welcome addition to the growing list of literature centring queer lives in Africa’—Shayera Dark reviews Musih Tedji Xaviere’s debut novel These Letters End in Tears
As a novel centred on lesbian love set in an intensely homophobic country, These Letters End in Tears by Musih…
‘A worthy addition to the Zimbabwean library of the struggle-engaged’—Percy Zvomuya reviews An Outsider Within by Mary E Ndlovu
Percy Zvomuya reviews Mary E Ndlovu’s memoir, An Outsider Within: A Memoir of Love, of Loss, of Perseverance. An Outsider…
‘An open-hearted refusal of the atomised world’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Hedley Twidle’s new collection of essays, Show Me the Place
In Show Me the Place, Hedley Twidle displays an earnest curiosity about how to inhabit a world that seems to…
‘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…
On identity, poetry, diaspora and Afropessimism—Kweku Abimbola in conversation with Sreddy Yen
Gambia-born poet Kweku Abimbola, whose award-winning first collection of poetry Saltwater Demands a Psalm was published by Graywolf Press in…
‘A family can be a very stifling environment’—Lebohang Mojapelo interviews Pontsho Pilane on her book Power and Faith: How Evangelical Churches are Quietly Shaping Our Democracy
Lebohang Mojapelo talks to Pontsho Pilane about her new book, Power and Faith: How Evangelical Churches are Quietly Shaping Our…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Shubnum Khan 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…
‘I lose myself for hours inside its green and blue pixels’—Read Masande Ntshanga’s new essay Technologies of Conquest, from The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making and Meaning
The JRB presents an excerpt from Masande Ntshanga’s essay ‘Technologies of Conquest: On Writing the Dystopian through South Africa’s Past,…
‘Because of informers, meetings were never announced beforehand’—Read an excerpt from Dayspring, the memoir of the late CJ Driver, major South African poet and exiled student politician
The JRB presents an excerpt from Dayspring, the forthcoming memoir by CJ Driver, edited and with a foreword by Nobel…