[The JRB Daily] Tsitsi Dangarembga, Maaza Mengiste longlisted for 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction
The longlist for the Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced, including Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga and Ethiopian–American author Maaza…
Category: South Africa
[The JRB Daily] ‘It is so important now that Africans own their own narrative’—Irenosen Okojie wins the 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing
Irenosen Okojie has won the AKO Caine Prize for African writing, for her story ‘Grace Jones’. Announcing the award, chair…
[The JRB Daily] Saaleha Idrees Bamjee wins 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize for debut poetry for Zikr, a poignant collection of longing and loss
Saaleha Idrees Bamjee has been announced as the winner of this year’s Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry for her…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 4, Issue 6
Adam Smyer • Wamuwi Mbao • Nadia Davids • Hemley Boum • Nkiacha Atemnkeng • Esther Mirembe • Stella Nyanzi…
What continuities can be drawn from the murder of Ahmed Timol in apartheid Joburg to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis? Wamuwi Mbao unpacks the debased tradition of police murdering civilians
The abolition of slavery, formalised gender discrimination, apartheid and other reprehensible ways of being did not occur simply through continued…
‘Does my chest sound tight to you?’ The first 40 days; notes from a South African lockdown, by Nadia Davids
At first, you wake up each morning determined to make something of the day. You will be your best self….
Pan-African Anti-Racism and Solidarity Reading List: A Resource from The JRB
In continuing solidarity with the progressive literary community and all who fight racism and anti-Black violence, The JRB presents this…
[City Editor] ‘Writers do not write alone. They are always in the company of other writers’—Lidudumalingani reflects on reading books that make you write
Some days are longer than others, and during this Covid-19 controlled reality, it seems like someone out there somewhere keeps…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of George Hallett by Victor Dlamini
Photographer George Hallett died this week. See The JRB’s obituary here, and an appreciation of Hallett by our Photo Editor,…
‘NO ONE IS SAFE’, a poem by Allan Kolski Horwitz
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a new poem by Allan Kolski Horwitz. ~~~ NO ONE IS SAFE …
‘Thinking while black’—Read Grace A Musila’s essay from the award-winning book Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience
‘How do we craft a healthy, dignified blackness, in a world where blackness is a captured identity location that needs…
Read ‘Black children and white dolls’ by Kopano Ratele, excerpted from his book The World Looks Like This From Here: Thoughts on African Psychology
The JRB presents an excerpt from The World Looks Like This From Here: Thoughts on African Psychology, by psychologist and…
‘Race matters. It matters because of the meanings we give to it.’ Read an excerpt from Race Otherwise: Forging a New Humanism for South Africa by Zimitri Erasmus
This excerpt is based on a chapter from a Zimitri Erasmus’s book Race Otherwise: Forging a New Humanism for South…
‘It’s surreal that a coming-of-age story set in Umlazi has found another home in the USA’—International deal for Sifiso Mzobe’s debut novel Young Blood (Plus: Excerpt)
United States publisher Catalyst Press has acquired the rights to publish Sifiso Mzobe’s award-winning novel Young Blood in North America….
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry shortlist announced
The four books shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry have been announced. The prize, one of South…
How to make photographs that mattered—The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini remembers George Hallett
The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini pays tribute to George Hallett, who passed away today. I first got to know…
George Hallett, 1942—2020, RIP
Header image: Brother George, by The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini Legendary South African photographer George Hallett has died, according…
[The JRB Daily] ‘We made a mistake’—Media24 Books apologises for lack of diversity in literary awards judging panels
Media24 Books has released a statement in the wake of the outcry over the lack of diversity in this year’s…
[The JRB Daily] Writers condemn the lack of diversity in the 2020 Media24 Books Literary Prizes
Yesterday, the winners of this year’s annual Media24 Books Literary Prizes were announced. When The JRB published the news this…
[The JRB Daily] Media24 Books Literary Prizes winners announced, including Jonny Steinberg, Trevor Sacks and Edyth Bulbring
Header image: Jonny Steinberg, Trevor Sacks, Zirk van den Berg, Loftus Marais, Edyth Bulbring, Fanie Viljoen, Theodore Key The winners…
Elsa Joubert, 1922—2020, RIP
Acclaimed author Elsa Joubert has died at the age of ninety-seven. Joubert’s son, Nico Steytler, has confirmed that his mother…
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including Nigerian writer Innocent Chizaram Ilo
The regional winners of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, known as the world’s ‘most global literature prize’, have been…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 4, Issue 5
Alain Mabanckou • Ama Ata Aidoo • David Goldblatt • Tayari Jones • Jacob Dlamini • Abi Daré • Lidudumalingani…
[Sampler issue] ‘Could I be you?’ Photographs and text from Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime by David Goldblatt
The JRB presents a selection of photographs and personal stories from Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime: South Africa…
[Sampler issue] Read an exclusive excerpt from Jacob Dlamini’s new book The Terrorist Album: Apartheid’s Insurgents, Collaborators, and the Security Police
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Terrorist Album: Apartheid’s Insurgents, Collaborators, and the Security Police by Jacob Dlamini….
[Sampler issue] Read an excerpt from the first South African edition of the previously banned book Malibongwe: Poems from the Struggle by ANC Women, including poetry by Baleka Mbete
The JRB presents an excerpt from Malibongwe: Poems from the Struggle by ANC Women—a new edition of a lost piece…
[Sampler issue] Read an excerpt from a new short story by Ama Ata Aidoo, from the book Between the Generations: An Anthology for Ama Ata Aidoo at 80
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Between the Generations: An Anthology for Ama Ata Aidoo at 80. Between the…
[Sampler issue] ‘She wasn’t listening this time. She wasn’t stopping. This time she was running.’—Read an excerpt from a work in progress by Margie Orford
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Last Weekend, the working title of a novel in progress by Editorial Advisory…
[Sampler issue] ‘At the beginning, it wasn’t called feminism. It was called an attitude problem.’—Read Neliswa Tshazi’s essay from Living While Feminist
The JRB presents an excerpt from Living While Feminist: Our Bodies, Our Truths, a new collection of essays edited by…
[Sampler issue] Read an excerpt from a new edition of DDT Jabavu’s travelogue In India and East Africa / E-Indiya nase East Africa, in isiXhosa and English
The JRB presents an excerpt, in isiXhosa and English, from DDT Jabavu’s travelogue In India and East Africa / E-Indiya…
[Sampler issue] ‘I was outed before I was ready, but there was nothing I could do’—Read an excerpt from Jamil F Khan’s new book Khamr: The Makings of a Waterslams
The JRB presents an excerpt from Khamr: The Makings of a Waterslams, the forthcoming book by Jamil F Khan. Khamr:…
[Sampler issue] ‘I would stare at this monstrous building trying to visualise my uncle falling to his death’—Read an excerpt from The Murder of Ahmed Timol by Imtiaz A Cajee
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Murder of Ahmed Timol: My Search for the Truth by Imtiaz A Cajee….
[City Editor] Home, for me, for writers before me, for writers after me—Lidudumalingani makes a pact with post-lockdown Joburg
Melville’s legendary haunt Xai Xai is for writers part restaurant, part sanctuary, writes guest City Editor Lidudumalingani. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s…
‘Greed—the Poem as Deadly Sin’, a new poem by Andries Bezuidenhout
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a new poem by Andries Bezuidenhout. ~~~ Greed—the Poem as Deadly Sin If it…
[Sampler issue] Small-town living during the height of the Border War—Read an excerpt from Mark Winkler’s new novel Due South of Copenhagen
The JRB presents an excerpt from Due South of Copenhagen, the new novel from Mark Winkler. Due South of CopenhagenMark…
[Sampler issue] Read an excerpt from Sifiso Mzobe’s new short story collection, Searching for Simphiwe
The JRB presents an excerpt from ‘The Worst That Could Happen’, a short story by Sifiso Mzobe, from his new…
[Sampler issue] ‘A good pickpocket is also a semiotician’—Read an excerpt from Barbara Adair’s new novel WILL, the Passenger Delaying Flight …
The JRB presents an excerpt from Barbara Adair’s new novel WILL, the Passenger Delaying Flight … WILL, the Passenger Delaying…
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Nommo Awards for Speculative Fiction by Africans—shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2020 Nommo Awards for Speculative Fiction by Africans have been announced. The Nommo Awards are presented…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A role model for an entire generation of African writers’—Zukiswa Wanner wins prestigious Goethe Medal, along with Elvira Espejo Ayca and Ian McEwan
Header image: Elvira Espejo Ayca, Zukiswa Wanner and Ian McEwan Writer, publisher and curator Zukiswa Wanner has been awarded the…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Funny, tragic and defiant in the face of politics, bigotry and injustice’—2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced
Header image: The Africa shortlist, Aba Asibon (Ghana), Innocent Chizaram Ilo (Nigeria), Caleb Ozovehe Ajinomoh (Nigeria), Alboricah Tokologo Rathupetsane (South…