The party has a purpose—Carey Baraka considers the influence of literary get-togethers on Kenya’s writing scene
Sleeping Poet: That Party at Frank’s At 7.30 or 8 or 8.30 p.m., somewhere along in there, on 30 June…
Category: Africa
‘When the Booker longlisting happened, I thought, oh, I’m going to have to start writing again’—Karen Jennings chats to Jennifer Malec about writing, fame and loneliness (Plus: exclusive audio)
Author Karen Jennings was in conversation with The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec at the Origins Centre in Johannesburg recently, as…
Helping new perspectives and worlds of experience be heard—Karin Schimke visits Paulet House, home of the Jakes Gerwel Foundation writer’s residency
The R335 curves around the eastern border of Addo Elephant Park and spools north through the cushiony green hills of…
Two poems by Tjawangwa Dema, from an/other pastoral
The JRB presents two poems from Tjawangwa Dema’s collection an/other pastoral. an/other pastoral Tjawangwa Dema, illustrated by Tebogo CranwellNo Bindings, 2022 Prologue: Hypothesis…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘Over the months, we found more and more of Wayne’s drawings, those bundles of thin lines on the walls’—Read an excerpt from Namwali Serpell’s new novel The Furrows
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Furrows: An Elegy, the new novel from award-winning author Namwali Serpell. The FurrowsNamwali…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘The first wound for all of us who are classified as “black” is empire’—Read an excerpt from Tsitsi Dangarembga’s new book Black and Female
The JRB presents an excerpt from Black and Female by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Black and FemaleTsitsi DangarembgaFaber & Faber, 2022 Read…
‘I danced a saraband with my parents. Their love dissolved my old fear’—Read an excerpt from Abdourahman A Waberi’s award-winning novel Why Do You Dance When You Walk
The JRB presents an excerpt from Why Do You Dance When You Walk by Djiboutian novelist Abdourahman A Waberi, winner…
‘No meaningful change can come from those who seek only power’—Read ‘Various Histories’, an essay by Jim Pascual Agustin
The JRB presents an updated version of an essay first published in Jim Pascual Agustin’s book of poems Bloodred Dragonflies:…
‘I was an identity-less person at the mercy of apartheid officials’—Read an excerpt from Cleaner’s Boy: A Resistance Road to a Liberated Life by Patric Tariq Mellet
The JRB presents an excerpt from Patric Tariq Mellet’s autobiography Cleaner’s Boy: A Resistance Road to a Liberated Life. Cleaner’s…
‘I remember the day Nelson Mandela returned, exactly thirty years after his death’—Read Siyawa by Kneo Mokgopa, from Our Move Next
The JRB presents an excerpt from Our Move Next: Digital Folklore. Our Move Next: Digital FolkloreCurated by Sarah Summers and…
‘There was a heated discussion about me going to work for this “native” paper’—Read an excerpt from Freedom Writer, the memoir of legendary journalist Juby Mayet
The JRB presents an excerpt from Freedom Writer: My Life and Times by the late Juby Mayet. Freedom Writer: My…
The lives of ordinary African women who did not submit to empire—Read an excerpt from Kwasi Konadu’s new book Many Black Women of this Fortress
The JRB presents an excerpt from Many Black Women of this Fortress: Graça, Mónica and Adwoa, Three Enslaved Women of…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Karen Jennings 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…
[The JRB Daily] 2022 South African Literary Awards winners announced
The winners of the 2022 South African Literary Awards (the SALAs) have been announced. The winning writers were announced in…
[The JRB Daily] Mignonne Breier and Tshidiso Moletsane win the 2022 Sunday Times Literary Awards
The winners of the 2022 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been announced. Mignonne Breier has won the Non-fiction Award for…
[The JRB Daily] Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa call for submissions
Submissions for the second annual Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa are now open. This literary prize, founded…
[The JRB Daily] Annie Ernaux receives the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
French author Annie Ernaux has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced today in Stockholm….
[The JRB Daily] 2022 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English winners announced
Header image: Mandla Langa, A’Eysha Kassiem and Lisa-Anne Julien The winners of the University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African…
[The JRB Daily] Shortlists announced for 2022 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English (Plus: winners of Creative Writing in isiZulu and Sesotho sa Leboa, and Literary Translation)
The shortlists for the annual University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English have been announced. The 2022…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 6, Issue 4 (September 2022)
Athambile Masola • Fungai Machirori • Wamuwi Mbao • Anna Stroud • Dimakatso Sedite • Margie Orford • Siphiwe Gloria…
Every time a black woman writes their story they are resisting marginalisation—Athambile Masola reviews Barbara Masekela’s memoir Poli Poli
Poli Poli by Barbara Masekela is a memoir that exemplifies the paradox of the ordinary and the spectacle in black…
‘What happens when you have a crime committed against a person that never ever comes to an end?’—Margie Orford talks to Jennifer Malec about her new novel The Eye of the Beholder
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec sat down with Margie Orford to talk about the challenges of writing about sexual violence, the politics…
Those who haunt inner city Johannesburg have their own ways of being—Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Blinded City by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon
The Blinded City by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon is a lucidly fascinating immersion into the world of the people who occupy the…
‘I think that it is important for every woman to claim the “nasty” in her’—Anna Stroud interviews Joy Watson on her debut novel, The Other Me
Anna Stroud chatted to Joy Watson about nasty women, how the markers of identity write themselves into our stories, and…
‘An important collective political work’—Fungai Machirori reviews The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s The Sex Lives of African Women is an important addition to writing that resists the fetishisation of…
‘Someone tried to break into my house while I was writing this book’—Christopher McMichael talks to mpho ndaba about his new book Shoot to Kill: Police and Power in South Africa
Christopher McMichael sat down with mpho ndaba to discuss violent policing, its historical origins, and his new book Shoot to…
Three poems by Dimakatso Sedite, from Yellow Shade
The JRB presents three poems from Dimakatso Sedite’s collection Yellow Shade, winner of a NIHSS Award and recently shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize. Yellow…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘All an educated African man could be in the City of Kings was a boy’—Read an excerpt from Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu’s new novel The Quality of Mercy
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Quality of Mercy, the new novel from award-winning writer Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu. The…
#RhodesMustFall, patriarchy and feminism—read an excerpt from Why Men Hurt Women and Other Reflections on Love, Violence and Masculinity
The JRB presents an excerpt from Kopano Ratele’s new book Why Men Hurt Women and Other Reflections on Love, Violence…
‘He was determined to cement the Zulu language as a mighty force’—Read ‘The Last Word: Benedict Vilakazi’, excerpted from Wits University at 100
The JRB presents an excerpt from Wits University at 100: From Excavation to Innovation, a book that captures important moments…
[The JRB exclusive] Read ‘Until It Doesn’t’, Roy Udeh-Ubaka’s ‘brave and deeply moving’ Gerald Kraak Prize-winning story
The JRB is proud to present ‘Until It Doesn’t’, Roy Udeh-Ubaka’s Gerald Kraak Prize-winning story, excerpted from the new anthology…
A rich history and a rapidly evolving industry—View photographs from Africa in Fashion: Luxury, Craft and Textile Heritage by Ken Kweku Nimo
The JRB presents an excerpt from Ken Kweku Nimo’s new book Africa in Fashion: Luxury, Craft and Textile Heritage. Africa…
Forty tracks, 174 minutes, a playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. In desperation not to make this month’s missive another depressingly…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Naledi Mashishi 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…
‘He looked like a bad decision. The best kind of bad decision’—Read an excerpt from Bolu Babalola’s debut novel Honey and Spice
The JRB presents an excerpt from Honey and Spice, the new novel from Bolu Babalola. Honey and SpiceBolu BabalolaHeadline, 2022…
Read an excerpt from Ben Okri’s new novel The Last Gift of the Master Artists
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Last Gift of the Master Artists, the new novel from Ben Okri. The…
‘Her name belonged to another world, even though her body lived in ours’—Read an excerpt from Pulane Mlilo Mpondo’s debut novel Things My Mother Left Me
The JRB presents an excerpt from Things My Mother Left Me, the debut novel by Pulane Mlilo Mpondo. Things My…
‘A raincloud sucks all the blue from the sky’—Read an excerpt from Lester Walbrugh’s forthcoming debut novel, Elton Baatjies
The JRB presents an excerpt from Elton Baatjies, the debut novel from Lester Walbrugh, out this month from Karavan Press….
‘What do you think this crowd would do to a baby thief, if you were caught?’—Read an excerpt from Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi’s debut novel Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions
The JRB presents an excerpt from Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories, the debut novel from…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Powerful’ 2022 Booker Prize shortlist announced—including NoViolet Bulawayo for Glory
The shortlist for the 2022 Booker Prize has been announced, including Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo. Bulawayo is shortlisted for Glory,…