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…
Category: Africa
‘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…
Continuities between Tswana worlds and Black world politics—Read an excerpt from Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement by Uhuru Portia Phalafala
The JRB presents an excerpt from Uhuru Portia Phalafala’s new book, Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement. Keorapetse Kgositsile…
‘Like knowledge, ignorance is a form of power’—Read an excerpt from Achille Mbembe’s award-winning book Brutalism
The JRB presents an excerpt from Achille Mbembe’s new book Brutalism, which was recently awarded the prestigious Holberg Prize. BrutalismAchille…
‘Listen, when the ancestors bite your ears’—Read an excerpt from Avenues by Train, the debut novel by Farai Mudzingwa
The JRB presents an excerpt from Farai Mudzingwa’s debut novel, Avenues by Train. Avenues by TrainFarai MudzingwaCassava Republic Press, 2023…
‘The dread of Whites and of ghosts loomed in his mind’—Read an excerpt from the new English translation of Louis Timagène Houat’s rediscovered classic The Maroons
The JRB presents an excerpt from the rediscovered classic The Maroons, first published in 1844 and released for the first…
‘Does being a politician have to be a dealbreaker?’—Read an excerpt from Barbara Boswell’s new novel, The Comrade’s Wife
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Comrade’s Wife, the new novel from Barbara Boswell. The Comrade’s WifeBarbara BoswellJacana Media,…
‘Johannesburg winters are brutal; you freeze to the bone marrow here’—Read an excerpt from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel Revolutionaries’ House
The JRB presents an excerpt from Revolutionaries’ House, the latest novel from Nthikeng Mohlele. Revolutionaries’ HouseNthikeng MohleleJacana Media, 2024 Johannesburg…
‘This is my third lifespan.’—Read an excerpt from Tlotlo Tsamaase’s debut novel Womb City, a cyberpunk horror set in a future Botswana
The JRB presents an excerpt from Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase. Womb CityTlotlo TsamaaseJacana Media (Mother imprint), 2024 08:00 ///…
Read an excerpt from Izimpabanga Zomhlaba, Makhosazana Xaba’s new isiZulu translation of The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
The JRB presents an excerpt from Izimpabanga Zomhlaba, the first isiZulu edition of Frantz Fanon’s seminal work The Wretched of…
[The JRB Daily] ‘The punch of a good short story leaves you breathless’—2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced
Header image: Reena Usha Rungoo, Sanjana Thakur, Julie Bouchard, Portia Subran, Pip Robertson The regional winners of the 2024 Commonwealth…
[The JRB Daily] 2024 HSS Awards winners announced—honouring ‘outstanding works of literature and the arts’
The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) has announced the winners of the ninth annual HSS Awards,…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 8, Issue 1 (February 2024, the Conversation Issue)
Makhosazana Xaba • Wamuwi Mbao • Danai Mupotsa • Sanya Osha • Tan Twan Eng • Jennifer Malec • Uhuru…
[Conversation Issue] A palate cleanser in JM Coetzee’s playful late style—Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Pole and Other Stories
JM Coetzee’s late style has often been indifferently received, but The Pole is a beautifully elegant story, writes Wamuwi Mbao,…
[Conversation Issue] Jimi Solanke: a prodigal as folk hero—Sanya Osha salutes an inimitable artist
Sanya Osha pays tribute to the late Jimi Solanke, and chats to Oluwatoyin Sutton about her book Jimi Solanke: The…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Poetry refuses the abstraction of theory’—danai mupotsa in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the fifth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
[Conversation Issue] ‘I don’t want to tell my reader what to feel; I want to make them feel’—Tan Twan Eng chats to Jennifer Malec about his new novel The House of Doors
Tan Twan Eng’s third novel, The House of Doors, was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and has just been longlisted…
[Conversation Issue] The world ends several times for Black people—A conversation with Uhuru Portia Phalafala and critical reading of her book Mine Mine Mine
Kim M Reynolds considers the historical and the personal in Uhuru Portia Phalafala’s new book Mine Mine Mine, in discussion…
[Sponsored] Is the Party Over? by Oscar van Heerden—a powerful account of the inner workings of a cripplingly divided political party
Is the Party Over? by Oscar van Heerden will be out from Jacana Media in March, ahead of the elections on…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘To survive as a woman in South Africa, I had to be angry’—Read an excerpt from Margie Orford’s new memoir, Love and Fury
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Love and Fury: A Memoir by Editorial Advisory Panel member Margie Orford. Margie OrfordLove and Fury:…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘I still take my bearings from the inner city’—Read an excerpt from Ivan Vladislavić’s forthcoming book The Near North
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Near North, the new book by Ivan Vladislavić, which will be published…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘In a single life here there is so much life’—Read an excerpt from Teju Cole’s new novel Tremor
The JRB presents an excerpt from Tremor, the new novel from Teju Cole. TremorTeju ColeFaber and Faber How is one…
‘Powerful drama fused with its cerebral yet emotional writing’—Read Njabulo S Ndebele’s Foreword to the 60th anniversary edition of William ‘Bloke’ Modisane’s Blame Me on History
The JRB presents Njabulo S Ndebele’s Foreword to the new sixtieth-anniversary edition of William ‘Bloke’ Modisane’s Blame Me on History….
‘This book is being published while Gaza, where I live, is being annihilated’—Read an excerpt from Decolonising the Palestinian Mind by South African–Palestinian author Haidar Eid
The JRB presents an excerpt from Haidar Eid’s new book Decolonising the Palestinian Mind. Decolonising the Palestinian MindHaidar EidInkani Books,…
New poetry by Kelwyn Sole
The JRB presents previously unpublished poetry by Kelwyn Sole. The leader’s speeches 1 The leader’s speeches slide into our ears like…
[Photo Editor] A Portrait of Siphiwo Mahala 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…
Short, sharp but eclectically ear-pricking—A playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
There’s not much to say about this playlist, perhaps because there’s not much one can say about the exasperating state…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 7, Issue 5 (December 2023, the Fiction Issue)
Makhosazana Xaba • Masiyaleti Mbewe • Wamuwi Mbao • Jarred Thompson • Simon van Schalkwyk • Franki Jenkins • Werner…
[Fiction Issue] Read ‘There’s No Hurry In Botswana’ by Masiyaleti Mbewe
New original fiction in The JRB. ~~~ There’s No Hurry In Botswana By Masiyaleti Mbewe The University of Gaborone’s main…
[Fiction Issue] Read ‘Centres of Gravity’ by Jarred Thompson
New original fiction in The JRB. ~~~ Centres of Gravity By Jarred Thompson Poor robot … That’s what father said…
[Fiction Issue] Read ‘A History of Phantoms’ by Wamuwi Mbao
New original fiction in The JRB. ~~~ A History of Phantoms By Wamuwi Mbao There comes a time and place…