‘We need to have lots of conversations about the Africa we want’—An interview with Lola Shoneyin, founder of the Aké Festival
Lola Shoneyin spoke to Shayera Dark about the fifth edition of the Aké Arts and Book Festival, which took place…
Category: Nigeria
[City Editor] Visa hassles and visa hustles—Niq Mhlongo compares travelling to Nigeria in 2008 and 2018
Header image (left to right): Nozizwe Cynthia Jele, Niq Mhlongo, Siyamthanda Skota, Yanele Nyamela, Phindile Mokoena, Outlwile Tsipane and Mũkoma…
A seminal catalyst of African speculative fiction—Thando Njovane shares three thoughts on Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death
Constructed around a feminist, though dystopian, future, Nnedi Okorafor’s novel Who Fears Death—now reissued some eight years after its first…
The 2018 Sol Plaatje Lecture: Kole Omotoso on The Power of Politics, the Power of Literatures—Sol Plaatje and the Madness of Making Humanity Shudder
This year’s Annual Sol Plaatje Lecture was delivered on 17 October at Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, by Professor Kole Omotoso….
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Brittle Paper Award shortlists announced, recognising the ‘finest original pieces of writing by Africans published online’
The shortlists for the 2018 Brittle Paper Awards have been announced. The awards were established in 2017 to recognise the…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Chika Unigwe and Don Mattera by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Don’t miss the ten-year retrospective…
Prix Femina and Prix Femina étranger longlists revealed—including Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Olga Tokarczuk
It’s awards season in the French-speaking literary world! A number of big prizes revealed their longlists in the month of…
[The JRB Daily] Shortlist announced for the $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature—Africa’s richest literary award
The shortlist for the 2018 Nigeria Prize for Literature has been announced. The prize was founded in 2004, and is awarded…
[The JRB Daily] Remembering VS Naipaul in South Africa
VS Naipaul, who died aged eighty-five on Saturday, spent some months in South Africa in 2009, researching his final book….
‘Historical fiction is a way of fighting rootlessness’—Ayesha Harruna Attah discusses her new novel The Hundred Wells of Salaga
Ayesha Harruna Attah’s new novel, The Hundred Wells of Salaga, has just been published by Cassava Republic Press. She chatted…
How to eat a small child–Yemisi Aribisala considers the question of representation in books for children of colour and the legacy of Little Black Sambo
Yemisi Aribisala recalls her first encounter with Little Black Sambo, and asks: Who is responsible if the image of the…
[The JRB Daily] Longlist announced for the $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature—Africa’s richest literary award
The longlist for the 2018 Nigeria Prize for Literature has been announced. The prize was founded in 2004, and is awarded…
[The JRB Daily] Masande Ntshanga, Omar Robert Hamilton, Anietie Isong and Kayo Chingonyi among the winners at the 2018 Society of Authors Authors’ Awards
Five African authors are among the winners of the 2018 Society of Authors Authors’ Awards. The awards distribute the United…
Emerging from Chinua Achebe’s shadow: Nigeria’s first generation of post-independence writers and the literary brotherhood of Umuahia
This July marks the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s seminal novel Things Fall Apart. Lebohang Mojapelo reviews…
‘As I wrote and rewrote, I made new discoveries’—An exclusive interview with Short Story Day Africa Prize winner Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor
Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor chatted to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about winning the Short Story Day Africa Prize, and his writing life. *…
New short fiction: ‘All Our Lives’ by Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor, winner of the 2017 Short Story Day Africa Prize
The JRB is presents the three winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. Nigerian writer Tochukwu Emmanuel…
[The JRB Daily] 2017 Short Story Day Africa Prize winner announced
Nigerian writer Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor has won the prestigious Short Story Day Africa Prize for his story ‘All Our Lives’. The…
[The JRB Daily] Masande Ntshanga, Omar Robert Hamilton, Anietie Isong and Kayo Chingonyi shortlisted for Society of Authors 2018 Authors’ Awards
Four African authors have been shortlisted for the Society of Authors 2018 Authors’ Awards. South African novelist Masande Ntshanga and…
[The JRB Daily] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie awarded 2018 PEN Pinter Prize for ‘fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been awarded the 2018 PEN Pinter Prize. The prize is awarded annually to a writer who, in the…
One of the decade’s most intriguing works of fiction: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel Freshwater
Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater is a striking, startling, butterfly-net of a novel, writes Wamuwi Mbao.
‘It’s clearly more harrowing to be time travelling when black’—Imraan Coovadia chats to Jennifer Malec about his new spec-fic novel A Spy in Time
Award-winning author Imraan Coovadia chats to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about his new novel, A Spy in Time. A Spy…
A victorious coming-of age novel: Outlwile Tsipane reviews Olumide Popoola’s superb debut, When We Speak of Nothing
Olúmìdé Pópóọlá’s debut novel, When We Speak of Nothing, seems to indicate a blossoming of things to come, writes Outlwile…
‘Johannesburg, the first and last city of our century’: Read an exclusive excerpt from Imraan Coovadia’s new novel, A Spy in Time
Many case officers liked to take a tablet to turn white, believing that it made the job easier. I think…
[The JRB Daily] Pwaangulongii Dauod wins 2018 Gerald Kraak Award for his essay ‘Africa’s future has no space for stupid black men’
Pwaangulongii Dauod has won the R25 000 Gerald Kraak Award, which honours African writing and photography that ‘provokes thought on the…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced, including Fred Khumalo and Michelle Sacks
The shortlist has been announced for the seventh annual Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The prize is awarded annually to ‘the best…
[The JRB Daily] Short Story Day Africa Prize shortlist announced, revealing ‘uncomfortable and fascinating truths about who we are’
The shortlist for the Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction has been announced. The prize is worth $800…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced, showcasing the ‘complexity and diversity of Africa and African lives’
The five-writer shortlist for the 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced, featuring writers from South Africa, Nigeria…
[The JRB Daily] Yewande Omotoso shortlisted for ‘world’s richest annual literary prize’—the International Dublin Literary Award
The shortlist has been announced for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single…
Ben Okri demonstrates the value of dreams in a ramshackle world: Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Magic Lamp
Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Magic Lamp, a new collection of meditations and stories by Ben Okri, illustrated by Rosemary Clunie. The…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature shortlist announced
The shortlist for the 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature (formerly the Etisalat Prize for Literature) has been announced. The award…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Lagos is home, the place where I don’t have to explain myself’—Chibundu Onuzo chats to Wamuwi Mbao about Welcome to Lagos
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Wamuwi Mbao chats to Chibundu Onuzo. Welcome to Lagos Chibundu Onuzo Faber and…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Readers of African novels published in the West are a lot more diverse now’—Anietie Isong chats about his debut novel Radio Sunrise
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Anietie Isong chats to Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike about his debut novel Radio Sunrise,…
[The JRB Daily] The Johannesburg Review of Books’s Book of the Year
The JRB’s Editor takes a look back at 2017 and picks out the single work that left the biggest impression….
[The JRB Daily] Shortlist announced for the 2017 Gerald Kraak Award for writing and photography on gender, human rights and sexuality in Africa
The shortlist for the 2017 Gerald Kraak Award has been announced, including The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela….
[The JRB Daily] Judging panel announced for 2018 Caine Prize
The Caine Prize for African Writing has announced the five judges for the 2018 edition of the award. Dinaw Mengestu,…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature longlist announced
The longlist for the 2017 9mobile Prize for Literature (formerly the Etisalat Prize for Literature) has been announced. South African…
[The JRB Daily] 2017 Short Story Day Africa Prize longlist announced
The longlist for the Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction has been announced. The prize is worth $1,000…
[Fiction issue] ‘Boy’, new short fiction by Yewande Omotoso
Exclusive to The JRB, new short fiction by Editorial Advisory Panel member Yewande Omotoso. ~~~ Boy They were the sort…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Wole Soyinka, Gcina Mhlophe and Athol Williams by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Don’t miss the ten-year retrospective…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Taiye Selasi and Vangile Gantsho by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Don’t miss the ten-year retrospective…