Toni Morrison, 1931—2019, RIP
Toni Morrison, celebrated novelist and Nobel Laureate, has died, aged eighty-eight. Morrison passed away at the Montefiore Medical Center in…
Category: South Africa
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 8
Wamuwi Mbao • Panashe Chigumadzi • Makhosazana Xaba • Lesley Nneka Arimah • Niq Mhlongo • Elinor Sisulu • Victor…
Read ‘Surely This [Mother Tongue] Should Count for Something’—A conversation with 5 women poets, from Makhosazana Xaba’s new book Our Words, Our Worlds
The JRB presents an excerpt from Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets, 2000–2018, edited by…
On Noni Jabavu and the return home—Makhosazana Xaba celebrates one of South Africa’s foundational literary centenarians
This August marks one hundred years since the birth of Noni Jabavu. Makhosazana Xaba reflects on the life of this…
Read ‘What Does It Mean To Be African?’ by Afua Hirsch, from the new anthology New Daughters of Africa
In celebration of Women’s Month, The JRB presents a series of excerpts from New Daughters of Africa. Edited by Margaret…
Read an excerpt from the forthcoming English translation of Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida’s award-winning debut novel That Hair, from the new anthology New Daughters of Africa
In celebration of Women’s Month, The JRB presents a series of excerpts from New Daughters of Africa. Edited by Margaret…
New poetry by Rethabile Masilo—‘For Peter Horn (1934–2019)’
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a previously unpublished poem by Rethabile Masilo. For Peter Horn (1934—2019) We howled into…
[City Editor] Arsène, Mos Def, Ben Okri and me—authors and the problems of mistaken identity, by Niq Mhlongo
On 25 June 2019, during the State of the Nation (SONA) debate, our Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula tried to impress…
[The JRB exclusive] New short fiction: ‘Mr Thompson’ by Noel Cheruto, first runner-up in the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize
The JRB presents the winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. Egyptian writer Adam El Shalakany won the…
[The JRB exclusive] New short fiction: ‘The Space(s) Between Us’ by Lester Walbrugh, second runner-up in the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize
The JRB presents the winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. Egyptian writer Adam El Shalakany won the…