[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from ‘Limerence’, a short story from Henrietta Rose-Innes’s new book Animalia Paradoxa
The JRB is pleased to present an excerpt from Animalia Paradoxa, the new collection of short stories by The JRB Contributing…
Category: South Africa
Two poems by Harry Owen
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents two poems by Harry Owen. ~~~ Children of Israel I stroll down Donkin Street with Billy…
Monuments, ‘the remains of an alien civilisation which had now fled’—Read an excerpt from Masande Ntshanga’s new novel Triangulum
The JRB presents an excerpt from Triangulum, the new novel from Masande Ntshanga. Read an interview with Masande Ntshanga on Triangulum…
‘I didn’t seem to exist. It felt easier that way’—Es’kia Mphahlele. Read an excerpt from Like Family: Domestic Workers in South African History and Literature
The JRB presents an extract from Like Family: Domestic Workers in South African History and Literature, by Ena Jansen. Like…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Non-fiction shortlists announced
The shortlists for the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and the Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Non-fiction have been announced….
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 5—our birthday issue!
Imraan Coovadia • Ivan Vladislavić • Pwaangulongii Dauod • Panashe Chigumadzi • Efemia Chela • Wamuwi Mbao • Makhosazana Xaba…
‘Ace Magashule’s rise reveals the weakness of the centre’—Imraan Coovadia reviews Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s Gangster State
Imraan Coovadia reviews Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s new book, Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture. Pieter-Louis Myburgh Gangster State: Unravelling…
‘The fallible memory is surely at the heart of writing fiction’—Jennifer Malec interviews Ivan Vladislavić about his latest novel, The Distance
The JRB Patron Ivan Vladislavić chats to Editor Jennifer Malec about memory, nostalgia and his latest novel, The Distance. Ivan…
Voices as powerful as guns: Panashe Chigumadzi on Dorothy Masuka’s (w)ri(o)ting woman-centred Pan-Africanism
The JRB Contributing Editor Panashe Chigumadzi presents a new reading of the work, career and life of Dorothy Masuka, arguing that…
Dry like steel: A wrecking ball of a book—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Adam Habib’s Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall by Adam Habib, finding it engrossing, but ultimately unconvincing. Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall…
Four new poems by Annwen Bates
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Annwen Bates. ~~~ Private and confidential Between 7 and 7.54…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘Windhoek has three temperatures: hot, mosquito, and fucking cold’—Read an excerpt from The Eternal Audience of One, the debut novel by Rémy Ngamije
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Eternal Audience of One, the forthcoming debut novel by Rwandan-born Namibian writer…
[City Editor] Finding out you’re big in Myanmar—and a caution on the potential effects of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill
City Editor Niq Mhlongo finds a cautionary tale in an interaction with one of his (heretofore unknown) international publishers. In…
[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from Makhosazana Xaba’s new collection of poetry, The Alkalinity of Bottled Water
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Alkalinity of Bottled Water, the new collection of poetry by The JRB Patron…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Lesego Rampolokeng and Lauren Beukes by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Visit the ten-year retrospective of…
[The JRB Daily] Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist revealed—‘a diverse range of voices and nationalities’
The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, awarded annually to the ‘best, eligible full-length novel in English’ by a woman,…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists announced
The longlists for the 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been revealed! The duo of awards—the Alan Paton Award for…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced, including writers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia
The shortlist for the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been announced. South African writer Alex Latimer and South Africa-based…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 4
Bongani Madondo • Rofhiwa Maneta • Mubanga Kalimamukwento • Tymon Smith • Mbali Sikakana • Hedley Twidle • Sandile Ngidi…
‘A literary con’—Hedley Twidle rereads Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost by Dugmore Boetie, the joker in the pack of Sophiatown-era life writing
In this excerpt from his forthcoming book on non-fiction in South African literature, Experiments with Truth, Hedley Twidle revisits Dugmore…
This is how we lost him—Bongani Madondo and Rofhiwa Maneta remember K Sello Duiker
K Sello Duiker emerged on the African literary scene with a visceral two-punch combo, the novels Thirteen Cents (2000) and…
Is South African literature perceived as insular? Mbali Sikakana talks to Michael Barron of Melville House Publishing
Despite a strong heritage stretching back more than a century, South African fiction remains largely unfamiliar—apart from a handful of…
[The JRB digital exclusive] Read Issue #1 of eMagqumeni: Place of the Hills, a new graphic novel by Nathi Ngubane and Azad Essa
The JRB presents the digital debut of eMagqumeni: Place of the Hills, a new graphic novel by Nathi Ngubane and Azad…
Three new poems by Sandile Ngidi
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Sandile Ngidi. Don’t Tell Me Anything Now Brenda’s on stage,…
Heat, hunger and hidden spots—Sifiso Mzobe introduces Niq Mhlongo to Durban
Sifiso Mzobe shows his fellow scribe, and JRB City Editor, Niq Mhlongo around his hometown of Durban during the Time…
Read an excerpt from Athena Farrokhzad’s award-winning poetry collection White Blight
The JRB presents excerpts from White Blight by Swedish poet Athena Farrokhzad, translated by Jennifer Hayashida. White Blight is published…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Charl-Pierre Naudé and Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Visit the ten-year retrospective of…
Gideon Mendel’s ‘Damage’ exhibition of photographs from 1980s South Africa launched at the Apartheid Museum
The cover image for the April 2019 issue of The JRB is by Gideon Mendel, from his new exhibition ‘Damage’. Born…
[The JRB Daily] Commemorate Human Rights Day with an exclusive excerpt from Lie on Your Wounds: The Prison Correspondence of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe
Header image: Book cover (left); and Sobukwe, inside the grounds of Orlando Police Station, awaiting arrest, on the morning of 21…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 3
Bongani Madondo • Rustum Kozain • Lebohang Mojapelo • Troy Onyango • Victor Dlamini • Niq Mhlongo • Ngwatilo Mawiyoo…
Illuminating a mighty poet and a total artist—Rustum Kozain reviews Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution
The JRB Poetry Editor Rustum Kozain reviews David Austin’s new book Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution, finding…
[City Editor] Niq Mhlongo’s township etiquette—an irreverent guide to Soweto, my hood
Forget about Vilakazi Street, Soweto is deeper than that. When you get off the taxi and you’re a smoker, buy…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize longlist announced
The longlist for the Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction has been announced. The prize was founded in…
‘I use anything handy which kills the gods’—Read an interview with Charles Mungoshi (1947–2019)
Literary giant Charles Mungoshi died on 16 February 2019, at the age of seventy-one. Mungoshi was born in 1947 in…
[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from Ekow Duker’s forthcoming novel, Yellowbone
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Yellowbone, the forthcoming novel by Ekow Duker. Yellowbone will be published by Kwela…
The novel as a series of moments of potentiality—Wemar Strydom on ‘Translate Yourself’, Eben Venter’s first exhibition of visual work
Eben Venter presented the world debut of his first visual exhibition, ‘Translate Yourself’, at the February Lectures conference at the…
‘Postcolonial Africa is an interlocking of forms, signs and languages’—Photographs from Guy Tillim’s new book Museum of the Revolution
The JRB presents an excerpt, in photographs, from Museum of the Revolution, a new book by renowned photographer Guy Tillim. The…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 3, Issue 2
Namwali Serpell • Jacob Dlamini • Barry Gilder • Rustum Kozain • Rémy Ngamije • Farai Mudzingwa • Oyinkan Braithwaite…
‘There is no comfort to be had in fiction. Our history is too raw for that’—Jacob Dlamini reviews Barry Gilder’s ‘brilliant, haunting’ novel The List
The List, the debut novel by former anti-apartheid activist and uMkhonto weSizwe member Barry Gilder, is a meditation about betrayal, faith,…
New poetry by Rustum Kozain: ‘Miró Miró’
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Rustum Kozain. ~~~ Miró Miró In flight sudden a something…