‘To photograph Switzerland is to rephotograph it’—Sindi-Leigh McBride reviews Fernweh, Teju Cole’s latest photobook
Fernweh, Teju Cole’s latest photobook, feels like a palliative moment amid the uncertainty, loss and raw grief of the pandemic,…
Category: Africa
[City Editor] In communion—Lidudumalingani gives deference to the worshippers who gather in the streets, parks and open lands of Johannesburg
On Sundays, in downtown Johannesburg, on the edge of Hillbrow, encroaching into Braamfontein, queues of worshippers fill out the streets,…
New short fiction: ‘Eye Contact’ by Agatha Zaza
The JRB presents a new short story by Agatha Zaza. Eye Contact This will be her husband. Litiya looks carefully at…
‘Exploring the recesses of loss with elegance’—Thulani Angoma-Mzini contemplates the 2021 Caine Prize shortlist
Meron Hadero was recently awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, becoming the first Ethiopian author to claim…
Four poems by Saaleha Idrees Bamjee, from Zikr
The JRB presents poetry by Saaleha Idrees Bamjee, selected from Zikr, published by uHlanga Press, and winner of the Ingrid…
[Photo Editor] Times Before 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…
‘Grief—a word that seemed too small to encompass the world I had been plunged into’—Read Sisonke Msimang’s essay from Our Ghosts Were Once People: Stories on Death and Dying
In a new anthology on death and dying, Sisonke Msimang writes about the multiple losses faced when her mother passed…
‘The violators were in breach of the unwritten codes that make for proper new South Africanness’—Read ‘Foreign Familiars’, from Pumla Dineo Gqola’s new book Female Fear Factory
The JRB presents an excerpt from Female Fear Factory, the highly anticipated new book from Pumla Dineo Gqola. Female Fear…
‘He could hear it. A sound that made his back grow cold, made the hair on his arms rise. It was the sound of bones’—Read an excerpt from An Island by Karen Jennings
The JRB presents an excerpt from Karen Jennings’s new novel An Island, which was recently longlisted for the Booker Prize….
‘The Pit was a place steeped in gloom, where people seldom went, and where certainly no one went alone’—Read an excerpt from Ashraf Kagee’s new novel By the Fading Light
The JRB presents an excerpt from By the Fading Light, the new novel from European Union Literary Award-winner Ashraf Kagee….
‘Whatever Sobhuza does, he ensures that he leaves no trace’—Read an excerpt from Mandla Langa’s forthcoming novel The Lost Language of the Soul
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Lost Language of the Soul, the new novel by EAP member Mandla…
Dreams of summer, a playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. This edition of Radio JRB has no overarching theme or…
‘All the talk about this virus leaves me hoping I contract the bloody thing before I have to face anything more about my past’—Read an excerpt from Futhi Ntshingila’s forthcoming novel They Got To You Too
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from They Got To You Too by Futhi Ntshingila, which will be published in…
‘These are the nuances of poverty’—Read an excerpt from Razina Theba’s new memoir A Home on Vorster Street
The JRB presents an excerpt from A Home on Vorster Street: A Memoir by Razina Theba. A Home on Vorster…
‘He was no longer working for the colonial state, and had fully taken on his revolutionary status’—Read an excerpt from Amílcar Cabral: The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist
The JRB presents an excerpt from António Tomás’s new book Amílcar Cabral: The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist. Amílcar Cabral:…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 Booker Prize longlist announced—including Damon Galgut, Karen Jennings and Nadifa Mohamed
The 2021 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, with this year’s crop of thirteen novels described by the judges as…
[The JRB Daily] Meron Hadero wins the 2021 Caine Prize for African Writing—becoming the first Ethiopian writer to take the award
Ethiopian–American writer Meron Hadero has been awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, for her short story ‘The…
[The JRB Daily] [Exclusive] Read ‘Five Years Next Sunday’ by Idza Luhumyo, winner of the 2019/20 Short Story Day Africa Prize
This week, The JRB has been publishing the winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. The winners of…
[The JRB Daily] Tsitsi Dangarembga wins 2021 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for her ‘inimitable storytelling’
Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga, who recently won the PEN Pinter Prize, has been awarded the 2021 Peace Prize of the German…
[The JRB Daily] South African poet Maneo Refiloe Mohale wins Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry
South African poet Maneo Refiloe Mohale was recently named the winner of the African Poetry Book Fund’s 2020 Glenna Luschei…
[The JRB Daily] [Exclusive] Read ‘Shelter’ by Mbozi Haimbe, 1st Runner-up in the 2019/20 Short Story Day Africa Prize
This week, The JRB is publishing the three winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. The winners of…
[The JRB Daily] [Exclusive] Read ‘Static’ by Alithnayn Abdulkareem, 2nd Runner-up in the 2019/20 Short Story Day Africa Prize
For the next three days, The JRB will be publishing the three winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa…
[The JRB Daily] Short Story Day Africa Prize ‘Disruption’ winners announced—judges impressed with the ‘calibre and imaginative reach’ of the stories
The winners of the 2020/21 Short Story Day Africa Prize have been announced. Header image: Idza Luhumyo (winner), Mbozi Haimbe…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 5, Issue 3 (June 2021)
Wamuwi Mbao, Efemia Chela, Robert Jones Jr, Athambile Masola, Lidudumalingani, Simon van Schalkwyk, Damon Galgut, Mark Gevisser, Adekeye Adebajo, Myesha…
Private prayer and public power—Athambile Masola reviews Mothers of the Nation: Manyano Women in South Africa by Lihle Ngcobozi
Lihle Ngcobozi’s Mothers of the Nation reveals the social complexity and political depth of the Manyano Women’s movement, writes Athambile…
‘Putting myself in those blood-soaked shoes was the most difficult thing to contend with’—Robert Jones Jr talks to Efemia Chela about his debut novel The Prophets
Contributing Editor Efemia Chela spoke to Robert Jones Jr about his debut novel, The Prophets. The ProphetsRobert Jones JrQuercus Publishing, 2021 Efemia…
‘Most of the stories have been told by now, it’s just the ways of telling that are new’—Damon Galgut talks with Mark Gevisser about his new novel, The Promise
Damon Galgut was in conversation with Mark Gevisser recently for the launch of his latest novel, The Promise. This is…
A Tale of Two Continents—Adekeye Adebajo unpacks Dickens in Africa
For reasons technical, historical and—above all—thematic, Dickens is writ large in African literature, writes Adekeye Adebajo. As we approach the…
Poetry by Keith Lewis, Nqobile Lombo, Busisiwe Mahlangu, Mthabisi Sithole and Xabiso Vili from Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry
The JRB presents poems by Keith Lewis, Nqobile Lombo, Busisiwe Mahlangu, Mthabisi Sithole and Xabiso Vili, selected from Yesterdays and…
[City Editor] Re-mapping the city by suicide—Lidudumalingani on the hidden brutality of the Johannesburg skyline
Re-mapping the city by suicide. Tiny dots of what is left when we die etched into the urban cartography. Souls…
View an excerpt from African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other, including work by Zanele Muholi, Hélène A Amouzou and Wilfred Ukpong
The JRB presents an excerpt from African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other. African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the OtherFotofestSchilt…
[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from a new edition of Lewis Nkosi’s one-act play Flying Home!, and a note by the editor
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Lewis Nkosi: The Black Psychiatrist | Flying Home: Texts, Perspectives, Homage. The book,…
‘Miriam Tlali understood the complicated meanings of being “the first” for a black woman’—Read an excerpt from Pumla Dineo Gqola’s new book Miriam Tlali: Writing Freedom
The JRB presents an excerpt from Miriam Tlali: Writing Freedom, the latest book by Pumla Dineo Gqola, which brings together…
‘I share me so you can know you’—Read an excerpt from Thirty Five Poems by the late Myesha Jenkins
The JRB presents an excerpt from Thirty Five Poems, a posthumously published collection of poetry by Myesha Jenkins, who passed…
Pushkin’s African heritage—Read an excerpt from African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele
The JRB presents an excerpt from Olivette Otele’s African Europeans: An Untold History, which was recently shortlisted for the Orwell…
‘Temporary madness, in war, is bravery’s sister’—Read an excerpt from David Diop’s International Booker Prize-winning novel At Night All Blood Is Black
The JRB presents an excerpt from At Night All Blood Is Black, recent winner of the International Booker Prize. At…
[The JRB exclusive] Three poems from the new edition of Cemetery of Mind by Dambudzo Marechera
Zimbabwean author Dambudzo Marechera’s poems, collected by Flora Veit-Wild in Cemetery of Mind, are available in ebook form for the…
‘You’re lucky, you know,’ her mother once told her. ‘She’s a very easy baby’—Read an excerpt from Naledi Mashishi’s debut novel, Invisible Strings
The JRB presents an excerpt from Invisible Strings by Naledi Mashishi. Invisible StringsNaledi MashishiBlackBird Books, 2021 Read the excerpt: Chapter…
Johannesburg’s Place of Good Hope—Read an excerpt from Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements by Trevor Ngwane
The JRB presents an excerpt from Trevor Ngwane’s forthcoming book Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements. Amakomiti: Grassroots…
A Midwinter’s Musical Tale, compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. Natalie Portman and I are exactly the same age, born…