[City Editor] Tanzania and my Vagabond Neurosis—Niq Mhlongo contemplates his irresistible urge to travel
About five months ago a very close friend of mine invited me to his wedding. His big day was Saturday,…
Category: Features
[The JRB Daily] Remembering VS Naipaul in South Africa
VS Naipaul, who died aged eighty-five on Saturday, spent some months in South Africa in 2009, researching his final book….
[City Editor] South Africa’s cultural game-changers—Niq Mhlongo believes book clubs are changing the literary landscape
A major change is happening on the South African literary landscape, and it has its roots in the formation of…
In tribute to David Goldblatt—an excerpt from TJ, his authoritative collection of Johannesburg photographs
‘Johannesburg is a fragmented city. It is not a place of smoothly integrated parts. And it has a name that…
[The JRB Daily] Exclusive to The JRB: Photographs from the protest against the Nobel Prize in Literature sexual harassment scandal
The Swedish Academy, responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature, is currently being rocked by a sexual abuse and…
[The JRB Daily] ‘None But Ourselves’—Percy Zvomuya charts the sonic cartography of a revolution in the new Chimurenga Chronic: ‘The Invention of Zimbabwe’
Image: Bob Marley performing at the Zimbabwe Independence celebration, Rufaro Stadium, Harare, 18 April 1980 The new issue of Chimurenga’s…
Exquisite, but a reminder that there will never be another Baldwin: TO Molefe appraises I Am Not Your Negro, a year after its release
TO Molefe believes Raoul Peck should have claimed I Am Not Your Negro as a new, original work, not as James…
JM Coetzee is tired: Wamuwi Mbao reports from the ‘Photographs from Boyhood’ exhibition in Cape Town
An exhibition of JM Coetzee’s newly discovered childhood photography was recently held in Cape Town. Wamuwi Mbao was there. With…
Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people: Kibo Ngowi considers the cult of intersectionality
Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people—and, crucially, neither does he aspire to be, writes Kibo Ngowi. We…
[In Memoriam] Elinor Sisulu remembers Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile (including tributes from Njabulo Ndebele, Fred Khumalo and Sandile Memela)
Elinor Sisulu shared this tribute to South Africa’s Poet Laureate Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile, who died on the third of…
[In Memoriam] [Photo Editor] Listen to Victor Dlamini’s 2008 interview with Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile
The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini interviewed South African Poet Laureate Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile back in 2008. Listen to the…
[In Memoriam] Nthikeng Mohlele remembers Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile
Nthikeng Mohlele honours South African National Poet Laureate Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile, who passed away in January. A Person of…
[The JRB Daily] The Johannesburg Review of Books’s Book of the Year
The JRB’s Editor takes a look back at 2017 and picks out the single work that left the biggest impression….
[The JRB Daily] The JRB 2017 Top Fifty: Our fifty most popular posts from Vol. 1
Since our launch in May, we have published eight issues of reviews, interviews, essays, poetry, photography and short fiction. From…
‘I was interested in being present at the moment when truth revealed itself’—JM Coetzee’s childhood photography
Childhood photographs by JM Coetzee are currently on exhibition at the Irma Stern Gallery in Cape Town. The exhibition, titled…
[The JRB Daily] Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is the favourite to win the Nobel Prize in Literature—again
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is odds-on favourite to win the Nobel Prize in Literature this week. The JRB’s Editor Jennifer Malec…
A stranger in ‘the Village’: Bongani Madondo remembers the magic of The Village Voice in print
When New York’s pout-fully punk weekly, The Village Voice, announced the end of its print issue last month, Gotham City…
[Temporary Sojourner] False memories and true love in Sierra Leone: Efemia Chela reads Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love
The perfect tragic vision of love and collective violence: Francophone & Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Sierra Leone by reading Aminatta…
[City Editor] Soweto, heart of the nation: Niq Mhlongo takes a tour of his home
Niq Mhlongo reveals what to see and do for the complete experience of Soweto. Of all the entrance points into Soweto,…
[City Editor] The place of the ancestors: Niq Mhlongo leaves the city to walk the hills of Mapungubwe
The JRB’s City Editor Niq Mhlongo takes some time out from sitting under his apricot tree in Soweto to visit…
[The JRB Daily] Tribute to the extraordinary Dambudzo Marechera, thirty years after his death
18 August 2017 is the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera. He would have been sixty-five….
The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 1, Issue 4 (August 2017)
The fourth issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books has arrived—and not a moment too soon, in our humble opinion….
[City Editor] Niq Mhlongo meets his hero James Joyce in Zurich
‘Let’s meet at 5 pm at the Big Clock.’ My host Olivier Moreillon’s words are ringing in my head as…
‘How to write about everything’—Binyavanga Wainaina on the problems faced by African writers, and how to overcome them
Binyavanga Wainaina spoke eloquently about his writing career and his life, and how the two are intertwined, at Wits University…
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie named a nouvelle héroïne of literature in France
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been named one of the nouvelle héroïnes of literature by the French newspaper and veritable institution,…
[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…
[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…
‘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…
[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…
Sailing with The Argonauts: A personal history of Christmas, queerness and Maggie Nelson by Efemia Chela
The Argonauts Maggie Nelson Graywolf Press 2016 Actually, no one is inspired by anyone except his own self and his…