The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 4, Issue 8 (October 2020)
Makena Onjerika, Wamuwi Mbao, Christa Kuljian, Shayera Dark, Sanya Osha, Sihle Ntuli, Zoë Wicomb, Sibongile Fisher, Nkiacha Atemnkeng, Nicky Falkof,…
Category: Africa
Remembering Myesha Jenkins, a revolutionary in politics, poetry and jazz, by Christa Kuljian and Makhosazana Xaba
By Christa Kuljian and Makhosazana Xaba Transformation Who I was is not who I am.And who I amis not who I…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Short Story Day Africa Prize ‘Disruption’ longlist announced—featuring 21 African writers from nine countries
This longlist for the seventh annual Short Story Day Africa Prize has been announced! The prize was founded in 2013,…
To overthrow Europatriarchy, logic and emotion must work in tandem—Shayera Dark reviews Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone by Minna Salami
Europatriarchy takes centre stage in Minna Salami’s elegant book of essays Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, writes…
The dialectic of connectedness—remembering Harry Garuba in Ibadan
Sanya Osha remembers the late Harry Garuba, who died earlier this year. Since he passed in February this year, friends…
New short fiction: ‘Black Beauty’ by Makena Onjerika
The JRB presents a new short story by Makena Onjerika. ~~~ Black Beauty Our housegirl Scolastica only ever wore a…
Remembering Achmat Dangor
Achmat Dangor, one of The JRB’s founding Patrons, died in September. Ben Williams remembers him. It is a year of…
A trilogy of visa rejections—Nkiacha Atemnkeng reflects on his embassy misadventures
I am a Western visa rejection expert. Three times—even though I work at an airport. But I am mostly a…
[City Editor] ‘Who owns it, who visits it, who is it for?’ Lidudumalingani visits Joburg’s James Hall Museum of Transport
It’s an odd, even an imperfect location to build a museum—to build, many may argue, any kind of structure at…
Covid-19 and an author’s transformation into silence, by Niq Mhlongo
Niq Mhlongo on searching for stories during a pandemic. I arrive in Berlin on Monday, 10 February 2020. It is…
New poetry by Sihle Ntuli, from Rumblin’
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents new poetry by Sihle Ntuli, from his chapbook, Rumblin’, published by uHlanga Press. ~~~…
‘Johannesburg swallowed my father whole’—Read an excerpt from ‘Feasting’ by Sibongile Fisher, excerpted from the new anthology Joburg Noir
The JRB presents an excerpt from Joburg Noir, a new collection of short stories edited by Niq Mhlongo, out at…
Constantly risking absurdity—a playlist for impossible times, compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. The people who know say that life…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Chika Unigwe 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 work. Visit www.victordlamini.com.
[The JRB exclusive] ‘God withdrew from helping black people nearly thirty years ago’—Read an excerpt from Niq Mhlongo’s forthcoming novel, Paradise in Gaza
The JRB presents an excerpt from City Editor Niq Mhlongo’s new novel, Paradise in Gaza, out on 20 October 2020…
Read ‘Ugly Noo-Noos and Suburban Nightmares’ by Nicky Falkof, excerpted from Anxious Joburg: The Inner Lives of a Global South City
Nicky Falkof considers the Parktown prawn as a metaphor for the anxieties of apartheid and post-apartheid suburban life, in an…
‘Never before have both the past and the future seemed so out of reach’—Read an excerpt from Zoë Wicomb’s new novel Still Life
The JRB presents an excerpt from Still Life, the latest novel from Zoë Wicomb. Still LifeZoë WicombUmuzi, 2020 Read the…
[The JRB Daily] Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift wins the 2020 Arthur C Clarke Award
Update 25 Sep 20: Serpell has donated her prize money to bail funds for protestors in the United States who…
[The JRB Daily] The 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced—including Tsitsi Dangarembga and Maaza Mengiste
The 2020 Booker Prize shortlist has been revealed—and includes two African authors for the first time in years: Tsitsi Dangarembga…
‘The beginning of an adventure’—Read the late George Bizos’s account of his escape from Nazi-occupied Greece as a child, from his memoir Odyssey To Freedom
The JRB presents an excerpt from Odyssey To Freedom, the memoir of the late George Bizos. Bizos passed away in…
[The JRB Daily] Women dominate the shortlist for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award—the world’s richest annual literary prize
The ten-novel shortlist for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award has been revealed. The shortlist includes Milkman, the Booker Prize-winning…
George Bizos, 1927—2020, RIP
George Bizos, esteemed human rights lawyer who fought tirelessly against the apartheid system, has died. Bizos was born on 15…
Myesha Jenkins, 1948—2020, RIP
The pioneering poet and activist Myesha Jenkins died in Johannesburg on Saturday, 5 September, 2020. Jenkins moved to South Africa…
Achmat Dangor, 1948—2020, RIP
The poet, novelist and activist—and founding patron of The JRB—Achmat Dangor, died in Johannesburg earlier today. One of the founding…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 4, Issue 7 (August 2020)
Carey Baraka • Rustum Kozain • Petina Gappah • Fiona Zerbst • Wamuwi Mbao • Efemia Chela • Lidudumalingani •…
Intimations of an ending—Carey Baraka on the unspoken demise of Kwani?, and the death of a dream
‘Still, there were dreams, and there were dreamers.’ Carey Baraka attempts to gather together the stories of Kwani? 1. One…
‘Poetry where the heavy and the light are held in tension’—Rustum Kozain reviews Fiona Zerbst’s new collection, In Praise of Hotel Rooms
Rustum Kozain reviews In Praise of Hotel Rooms, the fifth collection of poetry by Fiona Zerbst, calling it ‘a fine…
[The JRB Exclusive] Read the first act of Petina Gappah’s new Dambudzo Marechera play, Black Sunlight
The JRB presents an exclusive first look at Petina Gappah’s new play, Black Sunlight. Gappah’s first play, adapted from her…
Embodying the resurgence in Black surrealism—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Nudibranch by 2020 Caine Prize winner Irenosen Okojie
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Irenosen Okojie’s Nudibranch, the ‘immersively deranged’ collection containing her 2020 Caine Prize-winning story. Nudibranch Irenosen OkojieLittle, Brown,…
The Winter of Our Discontent—Angelo Fick reflects on 150 days of lockdown
A commentary on the present crisis and the need for literate understandings of it by Angelo Fick. 1. These are…
[Temporary Sojourner] The Beast in the Village—Efemia Chela reviews Confessions of a Lioness by Mia Couto, finding uncanny echoes of the coronavirus lockdown
The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Mozambique with Mia Couto’s novel Confessions of a Lioness. Confessions…
[City Editor] A city caught between two moments—Lidudumalingani considers Johannesburg’s obvious and hidden histories
Almost every city has been built more than once. Each phase complete with its own architecture and infrastructure and, for…
‘A tour de force of scholarship’—Arja Salafranca reviews The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser
Arja Salafranca reviews Mark Gevisser’s new book The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers. The Pink Line: Journeys…
Three poems by Fiona Zerbst from In Praise of Hotel Rooms
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents poetry by Fiona Zerbst, from her new collection In Praise of Hotel Rooms. Read…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Tsitsi Dangarembga 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 work. Visit www.victordlamini.com.
Making Piles, Telling Tales—an apocalypse playlist, compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. And so here we still are. Mostly…
‘Lines and images stick in the mind years after they have been heard or read’—Read Ivan Vladislavić’s Introduction to My Mother’s Laughter, a new collection of poems by the late Chris van Wyk
The JRB presents an excerpt from My Mother’s Laughter: Selected Poems by Chris van Wyk, edited by Ivan Vladislavić and…
Listen to Makhosazana Xaba on the WiSER Podcast—An absent presence: Writing Noni Jabavu’s life
Makhosazana Xaba was recently featured on the WiSER Podcast, discussing the life and work of Noni Jabavu, editor, memoirist, reader,…
‘Bessie Head’s work jolted me awake … I had not thought it possible that a black woman could be a writer’—Read an excerpt from Barbara Boswell’s new book, And Wrote My Story Anyway
The JRB presents an excerpt from the Author’s Preface of And Wrote My Story Anyway: Black South African Women’s Novels…
‘We didn’t fight a revolution to stay inside’—Read an excerpt from Mark Gevisser’s new book The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers, the new book by Mark…