[The JRB Daily] Johann de Lange turns down South African Literary Award
Poet Johann de Lange has turned down his 2021 South African Literary Award, calling the prizes ‘meaningless and worthless’ (‘betekenis…
Category: South Africa
[The JRB Daily] 2021 South African Literary Awards winners announced
The winners of the 2021 South African Literary Awards have been announced. The winning writers were announced in a virtual…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A great year for African writing’—Damon Galgut wins the 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction, for his novel The Promise
South African author Damon Galgut has won the 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Promise. The announcement was…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 5, Issue 5 (October 2021)
Wole Soyinka, Wamuwi Mbao, Shayera Dark, Joanne Ruth Davis, Lebohang Mojapelo, Lidudumalingani, Imraan Coovadia, Jennifer Malec, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe, Nthikeng Mohlele,…
‘This is the voice of contemporary South African fiction’—Joanne Ruth Davis reviews Mphuthumi Ntabeni’s new novel The Wanderers
Mphuthumi Ntabeni’s The Wanderers is a novel that indicates a storyteller in love with the art of telling tales, writes…
‘Wouter Basson didn’t reply to my queries’—Imraan Coovadia chats to Jennifer Malec about his new book The Poisoners: On South Africa’s Toxic Past
Award-winning author Imraan Coovadia chats to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about the mechanisms of good and evil, emailing Wouter Basson, and his…
The 20th anniversary of Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor—an excerpt, and a brief publishing history
Achmat Dangor’s novel Bitter Fruit was first published twenty years ago by Kwela Books. It went on, after its United…
Read an excerpt from ‘Dinner with Dambudzo’ by Nthikeng Mohlele, from his new short story collection The Discovery of Love
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Discovery of Love, the new collection of short stories from Nthikeng Mohlele. The…
Four new poems by Mark Espin
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents new poetry by Mark Espin. ~~~ BROKEN SENTENCE I We walk the mountain’s undulating paths while the…
[City Editor] ‘At night, Jozi is dead, unless you are the killer’—11 observations about the city, by Lidudumalingani
Cities and mining Underneath Johannesburg, imagine hollow cities, stretching from Soweto all the way to Turffontein, and further. As the…
[The JRB exclusive] Read ‘The Women of Atinga House’ by Fatima Okhuosami, first runner-up in the 2021 Kendeka Prize for African Literature
The JRB presents the winning stories of the inaugural Kendeka Prize for African Literature. The winners of the 2021 Kendeka…
[The JRB exclusive] Read ‘Au Pair’ by Okpanachi Irene Ojochegbe, second runner-up in the 2021 Kendeka Prize for African Literature
The JRB presents the winning stories of the inaugural Kendeka Prize for African Literature. The winners of the 2021 Kendeka…
Love and sex, hope and freedom, a playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. This month’s playlist is shortish, sharpish and summerish. There’s love…
‘If you dodge your death enough times, fate stops trying to find you’—Read an excerpt from Rešoketšwe Manenzhe’s new short story ‘Ramosela’, from Hauntings
The JRB presents an excerpt from Rešoketšwe Manenzhe’s contribution to Hauntings, a forthcoming collection of stories edited by Niq Mhlongo….
The looting that was broadcast across the world—Read an excerpt from History of South Africa by Thula Simpson
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Thula Simpson’s new book History of South Africa. History of South Africa: From…
‘What is the meaning of this hallucination that refuses to end?’—Read an excerpt from Perfect Hlongwane’s new novel Sanity Prevail
The JRB presents an excerpt from Sanity Prevail, the new novel by Perfect Hlongwane. Sanity PrevailPerfect HlongwaneBlackBird Books, 2021 ~~~…
‘It is dangerous to be gay in Uganda’—Read the personal experience of Angel, a 32-year-old asylum seeker, from Seeking Sanctuary: Stories of Sexuality, Faith and Migration
The JRB presents an excerpt from John Marnell’s new book Seeking Sanctuary: Stories of Sexuality, Faith and Migration. Seeking Sanctuary:…
‘Nothing, virtually no project, no cultural initiative, was left unbrushed by the CIA reptilian coils’—Wole Soyinka. Read an excerpt from White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonisation of Africa
The JRB presents an excerpt from Susan Williams’s new book White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonisation of Africa. White…
Three poems by Dominique Botha, from Donkerberg/Bloodwood
The JRB presents new poetry from Donkerberg/Bloodwood, a bilingual anthology by the award-winning writer Dominique Botha, published by Dwarsrivier. everything…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English winners announced
The winners of the University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English have been announced—and it’s a clean sweep for…
[The JRB Daily] Shortlists announced for 2021 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English
The shortlists for the University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English have been announced. The 2021 edition…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 South African Literary Awards shortlists revealed
The shortlists for the 2021 South African Literary Awards have been announced. Now in their sixteenth year, the SALAs are…
[The JRB Daily] Marguerite Poland and Andrew Harding win the 2021 Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards
The winners of the 2021 Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards have been announced. The awards celebrate ‘the best of South African…
[The JRB Daily] The 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced—including Damon Galgut and Nadifa Mohamed
The 2021 Booker Prize shortlist has been revealed—and includes two African authors for the second time in as many years:…
[The JRB Daily] ‘It is the book I never thought I would get to write. I never thought I’d be well enough’—Susanna Clarke wins 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction for Piranesi
Susanna Clarke has been announced as the winner of the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction, for her second novel Piranesi….
[The JRB Daily] Thando Mgqolozana, founder of Abantu Book Festival, accused of intimate partner abuse
Update: Mgqolozana has responded to the allegations in a video posted on Facebook and Twitter. See below. On Saturday, 21…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 5, Issue 4 (August 2021)
Karen Jennings, Yagnishsing Dawoor, Sindi-Leigh McBride, Thulani Angoma-Mzini, Agatha Zaza, Wamuwi Mbao, Lidudumalingani, Ben Williams, Victor Dlamini, Saaleha Idrees Bamjee,…
‘I decided to give up writing and to rethink my life’—Karen Jennings chats to Jennifer Malec about her Booker Prize-longlisted novel, An Island
Karen Jennings was recently longlisted for the Booker Prize, for her novel An Island. Here she chats to The JRB…
‘To photograph Switzerland is to rephotograph it’—Sindi-Leigh McBride reviews Fernweh, Teju Cole’s latest photobook
Fernweh, Teju Cole’s latest photobook, feels like a palliative moment amid the uncertainty, loss and raw grief of the pandemic,…
[City Editor] In communion—Lidudumalingani gives deference to the worshippers who gather in the streets, parks and open lands of Johannesburg
On Sundays, in downtown Johannesburg, on the edge of Hillbrow, encroaching into Braamfontein, queues of worshippers fill out the streets,…
‘Exploring the recesses of loss with elegance’—Thulani Angoma-Mzini contemplates the 2021 Caine Prize shortlist
Meron Hadero was recently awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, becoming the first Ethiopian author to claim…
Four poems by Saaleha Idrees Bamjee, from Zikr
The JRB presents poetry by Saaleha Idrees Bamjee, selected from Zikr, published by uHlanga Press, and winner of the Ingrid…
[Photo Editor] Times Before 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…
‘Grief—a word that seemed too small to encompass the world I had been plunged into’—Read Sisonke Msimang’s essay from Our Ghosts Were Once People: Stories on Death and Dying
In a new anthology on death and dying, Sisonke Msimang writes about the multiple losses faced when her mother passed…
‘The violators were in breach of the unwritten codes that make for proper new South Africanness’—Read ‘Foreign Familiars’, from Pumla Dineo Gqola’s new book Female Fear Factory
The JRB presents an excerpt from Female Fear Factory, the highly anticipated new book from Pumla Dineo Gqola. Female Fear…
‘He could hear it. A sound that made his back grow cold, made the hair on his arms rise. It was the sound of bones’—Read an excerpt from An Island by Karen Jennings
The JRB presents an excerpt from Karen Jennings’s new novel An Island, which was recently longlisted for the Booker Prize….
‘The Pit was a place steeped in gloom, where people seldom went, and where certainly no one went alone’—Read an excerpt from Ashraf Kagee’s new novel By the Fading Light
The JRB presents an excerpt from By the Fading Light, the new novel from European Union Literary Award-winner Ashraf Kagee….
‘Whatever Sobhuza does, he ensures that he leaves no trace’—Read an excerpt from Mandla Langa’s forthcoming novel The Lost Language of the Soul
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Lost Language of the Soul, the new novel by EAP member Mandla…
Dreams of summer, a playlist compiled by Tymon Smith
The JRB presents tunes and accompanying editorial from our EAP member Tymon Smith. This edition of Radio JRB has no overarching theme or…
‘All the talk about this virus leaves me hoping I contract the bloody thing before I have to face anything more about my past’—Read an excerpt from Futhi Ntshingila’s forthcoming novel They Got To You Too
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from They Got To You Too by Futhi Ntshingila, which will be published in…