[The JRB Daily] 2017 Man Booker Prize longlist announced—no African authors make the cut
The longlist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced. The prize, worth £50,000, was first awarded…
Category: South Africa
[The JRB Daily] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pays touching tribute to Binyavanga Wainaina: ‘A great and rare and genuine talent’
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie paid homage to Binyavanga Wainaina yesterday evening, in a touching message read out at an event at…
[The JRB Daily] Turbulent, hopeful and long overdue: Henrietta Rose-Innes considers transformation in South African literature in the Times Literary Supplement
The United Kingdom release of Henrietta Rose-Innes’s latest novel, Green Lion, is imminent, and to mark the occasion she has written…
[The JRB Daily] Sudanese writer Bushra al-Fadil wins the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing
Sudanese writer Bushra al-Fadil has won the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing for his story ‘The Story of the…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 1, Issue 3 (July 2017)
The third issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books is here, with some big reviews, in-depth interviews and quality ruminations…
[Exclusive interview and audio] ‘White fragility ends discussions … and ends lives’: Claudia Rankine speaks in Soweto
‘In the US we have just elected a government committed to white supremacy. Tonight I wanted to talk about what…
‘It began with a burial site’: Nadia Davids on her new work, What Remains, a play about slavery and the haunted city
All that is buried is not dead. —Olive Schreiner, The Story of an African Farm Ant swarming City City full…
[Sponsored] The White Road – the hotly anticipated new book from Sarah Lotz – is out in June
The White Road, the chilling new thriller by Sarah Lotz, is out in June locally from Jonathan Ball Publishers. The…
[Sponsored] Win a copy of The Man Who Founded the ANC: A biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme
The Reading List and Penguin Random House South Africa have got three copies of The Man Who Founded the ANC:…
A steady vigil over the slow death of the anti-apartheid dream: Rustum Kozain reviews Kelwyn Sole’s latest poetry collection, Walking, Falling
Kelwyn Sole Walking, Falling Deep South, 2017 Read: Four Poems by Kelwyn Sole Walking, Falling extends Kelwyn Sole’s…
Four Poems by Kelwyn Sole
Kelwyn Sole Walking, Falling Deep South Publishers, 2017 Read Rustum Kozain’s review of this collection: A steady…
New short fiction: ‘Love Back’ by Julie Nxadi
The JRB presents new short fiction by Julie Nxadi. Love Back Kwathi kaloku ngantsomi, there were clouds too lazy to…
[City Editor] Niq Mhlongo meets Shaka Zulu at a restaurant in Cologne, Germany
Having been here for three weeks now, I think it should be considered an act of blasphemy to describe or…
The JRB exclusive: Karel Schoeman’s final pilgrimage, detailed in a guesthouse visitors’ book
Before he took his life on the first of May this year, author Karel Schoeman made a final pilgrimage to…
‘Three great hopes for a post-apartheid culture, gone too soon’—Hedley Twidle reflects on Phaswane Mpe, Moses Taiwa Molelekwa and K Sello Duiker
Firepool: Experiences in an Abnormal World Hedley Twidle Kwela, 2017 The following is an excerpt from Firepool: Experiences in an…
Eking out a deeper truth on the rough seas of historical fiction: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Fred Khumalo’s Dancing the Death Drill
Dancing the Death Drill Fred Khumalo Umuzi, 2017 The historical novel presents rough seas for a writer. Attaching a novel…
‘I appreciate stories that mess with me a little’: Yewande Omotoso on her latest book, The Woman Next Door
The Woman Next Door Yewande Omotoso Chatto & Windus, 2017 Yewande Omotoso spoke to Johannesburg Review of Books editor Jennifer…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits by Victor Dlamini: Zakes Mda; and Zakes Mda with Mandla Langa
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. ~~~ Zakes Mda and Mandla…
Finding beauty under apartheid: Interview with Dan Magaziner, and excerpt from his book The Art of Life in South Africa
The Art of Life in South Africa Dan Magaziner UKZN Press, 2017 Main image: Ndaleni group shot, late 1970s, Ndaleni…
Video: Watch a clip from Siphiwo Mahala’s The House of Truth starring Sello Maake kaNcube
The Johannesburg Review of Books brings you a clip of Siphiwo Mahala’s acclaimed play on the life of Can Themba,…
[The JRB Daily] Fiction is essential in a corrupt society—Read Zakes Mda’s Sunday Times Literary Awards keynote address
Zakes Mda was the keynote speaker at the Sunday Times Literary Awards last night. Mda won the Barry Ronge Fiction…
[The JRB Daily] Zakes Mda and Greg Marinovich win Sunday Times Literary Awards
Zakes Mda and Greg Marinovich were announced as the winners of the 2017 Sunday Times Literary Awards last night. The awards…
[The JRB Daily] UJ Prize shortlists announced: Fiction, poetry, short stories, essays and biography feature
The shortlists for the 2016 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English have been announced, with works…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 1, Issue 2 (June 2017)
The second issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books is here—replete with some of the finest writing on books and…
Step on the Bassline: Bongani Madondo unlocks a torrent of Joburg memories
I don’t believe any biographer can be objective. —Mark Gevisser … I saw a sign over a door in café…
‘I want my legs back’: A personal history of catastrophe by para-athlete Palesa ‘Deejay’ Manaleng
The JRB brings you an exclusive excerpt from a work in progress by Deejay Manaleng, which tells the story of…
[Sponsored] Infidelity among MK comrades: An excerpt from Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit, republished this month
A new edition of Achmat Dangor’s acclaimed novel Bitter Fruit is out soon from Picador Africa, ahead of the publication…
[Sponsored] Karina M Szczurek on life with Andre Brink and her new memoir, The Fifth Mrs Brink (including podcast)
Ingrid Winterbach spoke to Karina M Szczurek at the Woordfees literary festival recently about her life with one of South…
‘Writing is sometimes like a thread that weaves all our hearts into one’: Lidudumalingani reflects on his Caine Prize visit to the United States
Lidudumalingani won the 2016 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story ‘Memories We Lost’. As part of the…
[City Editor] A miracle under the apricot tree in Chi Town: How a writer came to name Maboneng
One morning at the beginning of February 2009 I was approached by Indra Wussow, founder and curator of The Sylt…
New short fiction from Queer Africa 2: ‘Nine Pieces of Desire’ by Idza L
Exclusive to The JRB, new short fiction by Kenyan writer Idza L excerpted from Queer Africa 2, courtesy of MaThoko’s Books,…
[Photo Editor] Two original portraits by Victor Dlamini: Palesa Morudu and Lindiwe Hani
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. ~~~ Lindiwe Hani, photographed by…
Lagos, one long literary and artistic lime: Etisalat Prize judge Elinor Sisulu reflects on a trip of note
The Etisalat Prize for Literature, established in 2013, awards £15 000 for a first novel from Africa, and has grown…
It was a hard book to write: Kopano Matlwa discusses her latest novel, Period Pain
Period Pain Kopano Matlwa Jacana Media 2017 Kopano Matlwa burst onto the literary scene in 2007 with the publication of…
Welcome to Jozi maboneng, the place of lights: Read an excerpt from After Tears by Niq Mhlongo
The JRB’s City Editor, Niq Mhlongo, gave Johannesburg’s vibrant arts precinct, Maboneng, its name. Here is an excerpt from his…
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 1, Issue 1 (May 2017)
We are delighted to present the first issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books—comprising almost twenty reviews, essays, articles, stories,…
Portrait of the poet as a young genius: Bongani Madondo reviews Koleka Putuma’s Collective Amnesia
There is an ‘undecidable conflict’ between the poet’s desire to sing an alternative world and, as Grossman puts it, the…
[Sponsored] An excerpt from Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s new book The Republic of Gupta
The Republic of Gupta Pieter-Louis Myburgh Penguin Random House South Africa 2017 In The Republic of Gupta, Pieter-Louis Myburgh delves…
[Sponsored] Submit your manuscript to Pan Macmillan during an open submissions window in May
Pan Macmillan South Africa, one of South Africa’s leading publishers, does not as a rule accept unsolicited manuscripts, but has an open…
New poetry by Rustum Kozain: ‘When I write’
When I write Prose poem Rustum Kozain When I write, I am aware of how meaningless and ineffectual the activity…