[The JRB Daily] Henrietta Rose-Innes wins 2023 UJ Prize for Literary Translation
Henrietta Rose-Innes has been awarded the prestigious UJ Prize for Literary Translation, for her translation of Etienne van Heerden’s novel…
Category: Africa
[The JRB Daily] 2023 South African Literary Awards shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2023 South African Literary Awards have been announced. The SALAs are awarded annually by the wRite…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 7, Issue 4 (October 2023)
Wamuwi Mbao • Makhosazana Xaba • vangile gantsho • Zikhona Valela • Fungai Machirori • Irene Staunton • Sanya Osha…
‘There is something to be gained in looking at that which resists being looked at’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Black Racist Bitch by Thandiwe Ntshinga
Thandiwe Ntshinga’s Black Racist Bitch is the sort of book some readers will absolutely love, and others will find unreadable,…
[Sponsored] ‘It takes a lawyer, an activist and a storyteller to change the world’—Find out more about The Revolution Will Not Be Litigated
The Revolution Will Not Be Litigated: People Power and Legal Power in the 21st Century, edited by Katie Redford and…
‘I believe poetry is how my ancestors found me’—vangile gantsho in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the fourth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
A fascinating, if flawed, enquiry—Zikhona Valela reviews Jonny Steinberg’s Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage
Zikhona Valela reviews Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg. Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage…
The heady days of post-independence literature in Zimbabwe—Fungai Machirori interviews renowned independent publisher Irene Staunton
It was a warm afternoon when I visited Weaver Press earlier this year. I was moderating a book launch for…
An enigma called Christopher Okigbo—Sanya Osha reflects on the visionary and paradoxical poet (including an interview with his biographer Obi Nwakanma)
Once one experiences the phenomenal power of Christopher Okigbo’s poetry, it seems the reverberations persist throughout one’s creative life, writes…
Poetry by Isobel Dixon, from A Whistling of Birds
The JRB presents an excerpt from A Whistling of Birds by Isobel Dixon. A Whistling of BirdsIsobel DixonHuman & Rousseau,…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Arundhati Roy 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…
Embrace your existential dread—A playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
Back once again with the JRB radio, in a moment when we’re all reminded that there’s nothing quite like the…
‘She puts the worm in her mouth. She swallows it whole. It doesn’t wriggle. Too late now’—Read an excerpt from Lauren Beukes’s new novel, Bridge
The JRB presents an excerpt from Bridge, the new novel from Editorial Advisory Panel member Lauren Beukes. BridgeLauren BeukesPenguin Random House SA, 2023…
‘The world was tilting. The world was sinking. The city throbbed with energy and rage’—Read an excerpt from Ben Okri’s new book, Tiger Work
The JRB presents an excerpt from Tiger Work, the latest collection of poems, fables, and essays from Ben Okri. Tiger…
‘We can’t afford to have bombs exploding. Get your act together’—Read an excerpt from Breaking the Bombers by Mark Shaw
The JRB presents an excerpt from Breaking the Bombers: How the Hunt for Pagad Created a Crack Police Unit by…
‘The language we know as Afrikaans today owes much to the enslaved people who spoke it’—Read an excerpt from Coloured: How Classification Became Culture
The JRB presents an excerpt from Coloured: How Classification Became Culture by Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel. ColouredTessa Dooms,…
‘The stranger was on his feet, healing impossibly fast, even for what he was’—Read an excerpt from Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ’s award-winning debut novel Dazzling
The JRB presents an excerpt from Dazzling by Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ. Dazzling Chịkọdịlị EmelụmadụHeadline Publishing Group The Arrival Long Before They…
Creating interventionist ways of reading—Read an excerpt from Reading From the South: African Print Cultures and Oceanic Turns in Isabel Hofmeyr’s Work
The JRB presents an excerpt from Reading From the South: African Print Cultures and Oceanic Turns in Isabel Hofmeyr’s Work….
‘The ominous ring of the prison siren still lingers in the air as if signalling the end of days’—Read an excerpt from Angela Makholwa’s new novel The Reed Dance Stalker
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Reed Dance Stalker, the new novel from Angela Makholwa. The Reed Dance StalkerAngela…
‘Until today I thought they only existed as myths to scare children’—Read an excerpt from Christopher Mlalazi’s new novel, Langabi: Season of Beasts
The JRB presents an excerpt from Langabi: Season of Beasts by Christopher Mlalazi. Langabi is the first book from Mother,…
‘All the black people in Oxford—the whole lot of them—were coming to see Ian Smith’—Read an excerpt from Buntu Siwisa’s debut novel, Paperless
The JRB presents an excerpt fom Paperless by Buntu Siwisa. PaperlessBuntu SiwisaJacana Media, 2023 One I was on my way…
[The JRB Daily] Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo become first Senegalese writers to win Caine Prize for African Writing
Senegalese writers Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo have been awarded the 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing for their…
[The JRB Daily] 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been revealed. The two awards—the Non-fiction Award and the Fiction…
[The JRB Daily] 2023 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English winners announced
Header image: CA Davids and Pulane Mlilo Mpondo The winners of the University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 7, Issue 3 (August 2023)
Makhosazana Xaba • Sarah Lubala • Wamuwi Mbao • Michael Titlestad • Anna Stroud • Jarred Thompson • Mphuthumi Ntabeni…
‘As an immigrant, family photos are elegies to a lost world’—Sarah Lubala in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the third in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
‘Few novels preoccupy me; Decima inhabits me’—Michael Titlestad reviews Eben Venter’s ‘singular and significant’ new novel
Eben Venter’s Decima is a novel in which morality is shown to be an intricately woven fabric of contesting needs…
‘We, human beings, know how our stories end—with our heads blossoming into daisies’—Jarred Thompson chats to Anna Stroud about his novel The Institute for Creative Dying
Anna Stroud chats to Jarred Thompson about The Institute for Creative Dying, his debut novel that imagines a radical alternative…
‘An intsomi, a fable of biblical and mythological proportions’—Mphuthumi Ntabeni reviews Eye Brother Horn by Bridget Pitt
Eye Brother Horn by Bridget Pitt is a South African novel immersed in our oral culture and traditions, writes Mphuthumi…
‘Marechera was the epitome of this simmering revolt’— Musaemura Zimunya remembers the Pots and Pans Protest of 1973
This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Chimukwembe demonstration, aka the ‘Pots and Pans Protest’, a student uprising in…
‘I felt I was the only one with that type of urge in Nigeria, so I ignored it.’—An excerpt from Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria’s Queer Men Speak
The JRB presents an excerpt from the forthcoming book Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria’s Queer Men Speak, to be published…
A novel of many dark nights and unrelenting mishaps—Shayera Dark reviews Bisi Adjapon’s Daughter in Exile
Daughter in Exile by Bisi Adjapon is a pacy, character-driven novel that surveys the many burdens of living as an…
Poetry by the late Harry Garuba, from Shadow and Dream
The JRB presents an excerpt from the new reissue of the late Harry Garuba’s poetry collection, Shadow and Dream. Shadow…
Poetry by Khadija Heeger, from Thicker Than Sorrow
The JRB presents an excerpt from Khadija Heeger’s poetry collection, Thicker Than Sorrow. Thicker Than SorrowKhadija HeegerModjaji Books, 2022 ~~~ Witness…
‘I write to leave footsteps’—An excerpt from I Write the Yawning Void: Selected Essays of Sindiwe Magona
The JRB presents an excerpt from I Write the Yawning Void: Selected Essays of Sindiwe Magona. I Write the Yawning…
Read ‘A World Minus Women’, excerpted from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel, Breasts, etc
The JRB presents an extract from Breasts, etc, the new novel from Nthikeng Mohlele. Breasts, etcNthikeng MohleleBlank Page Books, 2023…
‘But when she tried to cry, all that spilled out of her was laughter’—Read an excerpt from Ukamaka Olisakwe’s new novel Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name
The JRB presents an excerpt from Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name, the new novel from Ukamaka Olisakwe. Don’t…
‘But the dreams didn’t cease immediately, and like a laceration, the wound closed with time’—Read an excerpt from Wisani Mushwana’s debut novel A Soft Landing
The JRB presents an excerpt from A Soft Landing, the debut novel by Wisani Mushwana. A Soft LandingWisani MushwanaKwela, 2023…
‘It lent a profound sense of poetic liberation to an entire generation of poets’—Read Sanya Osha’s Foreword to the new reissue of the late Harry Garuba’s poetry collection, Shadow and Dream
The JRB presents Sanya Osha’s Foreword to the new reissue of the late Harry Garuba’s poetry collection, Shadow and Dream….
‘It is clear he tried to escape the clash’—Read the late Tembelakhe Mati’s story, from Marikana: A People’s History by Julian Brown
On the eleventh anniversary of the Marikana massacre, which took place on on 16 August 2012, The JRB presents an…