Zoë Wicomb, 1948—2025, RIP
Zoë Wicomb, the pioneering South African author and academic, has died in her home of Glasgow, Scotland. She was 77…
Category: South Africa
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 9, Issue 2 (August 2025)
Zanta Nkumane • Shayera Dark • Wamuwi Mbao • Karen Jennings • Makhosazana Xaba • Thabile Makue • Rustum Kozain…
‘A superb, cleansing ending’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Antjie Krog’s autobiographical novel Blood’s Inner Rhyme
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Blood’s Inner Rhyme by Antjie Krog, a book preoccupied with a lifelong, struggling conversation between a mother…
‘Without the right words, one has failed, which is a devastating feeling’—Jennifer Malec chats to Karen Jennings about her latest novel, Crooked Seeds
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec chats to Karen Jennings about her new novel, Crooked Seeds, and making your reader’s skin crawl….
‘English is a language I acquired. To make it mine, I had to collapse its rules’—Thabile Makue in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba
This is the ninth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
New poetry by Rustum Kozain
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Rustum Kozain. ~~~ The greatest love I believe the children are our future,…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Myesha Jenkins 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 world still turns, the head still spins—A playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
After a brief hiatus—spent mostly just keeping on keeping on—Radio JRB returns for this 25th broadcast. The world still turns,…
‘An attempt to win back knowledge, even wisdom, from a world deluged by information’—Read an excerpt from The Interpreters: South Africa’s New Nonfiction
The JRB presents editor Hedley Twidle’s Introduction to The Interpreters: South Africa’s New Nonfiction. The Interpreters: South Africa’s New NonfictionEdited…
New poetry by Sarah Uheida, from Not This Tender
The JRB presents an excerpt from Not This Tender, a new poetry collection by Sarah Uheida. Sarah UheidaNot This TenderDryad…
‘This was the last thing she needed, and yet …’—Read an excerpt from Elleke Boehmer’s new novel, Ice Shock
The JRB presents an excerpt from Ice Shock, the new novel by Elleke Boehmer. Ice ShockElleke BoehmerKaravan Press, 2025 HERE 2010–2011…
‘My ultimate overpacked beach bite has to be a pilchard sandwich’—Read an excerpt from Pravasan Pillay’s offbeat new food memoir Curry and Bread
The JRB presents an excerpt from Curry and Bread, Pravasan Pillay’s new memoir. Curry and BreadPravasan PillayDye Hard Press, 2025…
‘They built a roaring, roistering town, and called it Johannesburg’—Read ‘The City of Gold’, from The Early Writings of Alex La Guma
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Early Writings of Alex La Guma: Reflections on Cultcha, Identity and Freedom in…
Does South Africa have a problem with occult crime? Read an excerpt from The Devil Made Me Do It by Nicky Falkof
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Devil Made Me Do It: Understanding Occult Crime in South Africa by Nicky…
Men’s livelihoods are only one aspect of what it means to make a life—Read an excerpt from Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins
The JRB presents an excerpt from Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins by Hannah J Dawson. Making…
Joburg’s biggest river, and its most charismatic (for better or worse)—Read an excerpt from Johannesburg from the Riverbanks: Navigating the Jukskei
The JRB presents an excerpt from Johannesburg from the Riverbanks: Navigating the Jukskei, edited by Mehita Iqani and Renugan Raidoo….
‘They say there is a bad spirit here.’—Read an excerpt from The Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a Port City by Tanya Zack
The JRB presents an excerpt from Tanya Zack’s new book The Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a Port City. The Chaos…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 9, Issue 1 (March 2025)
Finuala Dowling • Hassana Moosa • Shayera Dark • Wamuwi Mbao • Sean Jacobs • Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi • Sihle…
‘To read a collection this accomplished is to wonder anew at how poems are made’—Finuala Dowling reviews Ingrid de Kok’s Unleaving
Unleaving, Ingrid de Kok’s seventh collection of poetry, speaks of private grief, personal loss, ambiguity and hope, writes Finuala Dowling….
A profoundly beautiful exploration of what ageing means for those who lived in compact with racial separation—Wamuwi Mbao reviews God’s Waiting Room by Casey Golomski
What does it mean to want grace after such a thing as apartheid? What might it look like? God’s Waiting…
Omar Badsha: an ordinary South African whose struggles and triumphs offer insights into broader social movements—Sean Jacobs reviews Available Light by Daniel Magaziner
Available Light continues Daniel Magaziner’s significant work in shedding light on the lives of Black artists and intellectuals under apartheid,…
‘Once Removed feels rare’—Kris Van der Bijl reviews David Mann’s debut short story collection
David Mann’s short story collection Once Removed is inventive, and in tune with what it means to be a young…
‘I realised a long time ago that not everyone appreciates expressive or creative honesty’—Sihle Ntuli interviews Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi
Sihle Ntuli talks to Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi about subverting language, the beauty of Black creativity, and his seminal poetry collection,…
Read ‘Sweet Meat’, new short fiction by Megan Ross
The JRB presents new short fiction by Megan Ross. Sweet Meat ‘Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing…
New poetry by Abigail George
The JRB presents previously unpublished poetry by Abigail George. ~~~ In a lonely city searching for Walt Whitman and Chris Abani (for…
New poetry by Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi
The JRB presents previously unpublished poetry by Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi. ~~~ ~~~ araifal we crossed the river this morning the camels had…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Makhosazana Xaba 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…
Read William Kentridge’s essay ‘It Will Always Be You’, excerpted from Your History with Me: The Films of Penny Siopis, edited by Sarah Nuttall
The JRB presents an excerpt from Your History with Me: The Films of Penny Siopis, edited by Sarah Nuttall. Your…
‘They began to see that science was not isolated from politics but shaped by it’—Read an excerpt from Our Science, Ourselves by Christa Kuljian
The JRB presents an excerpt from Christa Kuljian’s new book, Our Science, Ourselves: How Gender, Race, and Social Movements Shaped…
What would Fanon say? Read the Preface to Frantz Fanon: Combat Breathing by Nigel C Gibson
The JRB presents an excerpt from Nigel C Gibson’s new book, Frantz Fanon: Combat Breathing. Frantz Fanon: Combat BreathingNigel C…
‘Before they were grandmothers, they were young’—Read an excerpt from Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani’s Dinaane Debut Fiction Award-winning novel Buried in the Chest
The JRB presents an excerpt from Buried in the Chest by Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani, winner of the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction…
‘The gun pointed at my head is one of ours’—Read an excerpt from Onke Mazibuko’s new thriller Canary
The JRB presents an excerpt from Canary, the highly anticipated second novel from Onke Mazibuko. CanaryOnke MazibukoPenguin Random House SA,…
Read ‘The Complexities of Intimacy for Black Middle-Class Women’, excerpted from Love in Jozi: The Black Middle Class, Love and Intimacy in Johannesburg
The JRB presents an excerpt from Love in Jozi: The Black Middle Class, Love and Intimacy in Johannesburg, edited by…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 8, Issue 4 (December 2024)—the Stranger than Fiction Issue!
Yewande Omotoso • Mandla Langa • Karen Jennings • Simon van Schalkwyk • Masiyaleti Mbewe • Wamuwi Mbao • Werner…
Read ‘The Underwhelm of Bijou Benjamine’, an excerpt from a work in progress by Yewande Omotoso
The JRB presents an excerpt from a short fiction work in progress by Yewande Omotoso. The Underwhelm of Bijou Benjamine …
‘Even as I thought about my brothers, I felt this distance from them, from their spirits; they were abstract beings, as remote as characters in a dream’—An excerpt from a forthcoming novel by Mandla Langa
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Rupture, a forthcoming novel by EAP member Mandla Langa. ~~~ Since it was almost…
‘Come the first of December the chains will be broken for good’—Read an excerpt from a forthcoming novel by Karen Jennings
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The First of December, a forthcoming novel by Karen Jennings. ~~~ Of the…
Read ‘Antlers’, new short fiction by Simon van Schalkwyk
The JRB presents new short fiction by Simon van Schalkwyk. Antlers Anyone who has visited Giant’s Castle will know the story…
Read ‘Details’, new short fiction by Wamuwi Mbao
The JRB presents new short fiction by Wamuwi Mbao. ~~~ Details ~~~ Header image: Daniel Watson/Unsplash
Read ‘Die Voorkamer’, new short fiction by Werner Pretorius
The JRB presents new short fiction by Werner Pretorius. ~~~ Die Voorkamer We sat up in the big front room…