Africa

A sparkling reflection on friendship, women’s bodies and the vestiges of colonialism—Shayera Dark reviews Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new novel Dream Count

Through the characters in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count, we see our own blind spots and our audacity to hope,…

Book excerpts

‘Before they were grandmothers, they were young’—Read an excerpt from Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani’s Dinaane Debut Fiction Award-winning novel Buried in the Chest

The JRB presents an excerpt from Buried in the Chest by Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani, winner of the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction…

Africa

‘Even as I thought about my brothers, I felt this distance from them, from their spirits; they were abstract beings, as remote as characters in a dream’—An excerpt from a forthcoming novel by Mandla Langa

The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Rupture, a forthcoming novel by EAP member Mandla Langa. ~~~ Since it was almost…

Book excerpts

‘My pilgrimage to Durban was written before I was born’—Read an excerpt from Roohi Choudhry’s forthcoming debut novel Outside Women

The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Roohi Choudhry’s debut novel Outside Women, which will be published in March 2025….

Fiction

‘The readers are there, but we’re still figuring out the right distribution model to reach them’—Nozizwe Cynthia Jele introduces her new isiZulu-focused publisher, Happiness Books

Author Nozizwe Cynthia Jele has recently launched a publishing company, Happiness Books, which will specialise in books written in isiZulu. …

Africa

‘I was fascinated by the idea of women existing beyond the confines of the patriarchy and colonialism’—An interview with Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu on The Creation of Half-Broken People

Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu chats to JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about her new novel, The Creation of Half-Broken People. The Creation of Half-Broken…

Book excerpts

‘Those few strands of barbed wire fence stood between her and her children, her home, her husband and her country’—Read an excerpt from the new edition of Lauretta Ngcobo’s Cross of Gold

The JRB presents an excerpt from a new edition of Lauretta Ngcobo’s seminal novel Cross of Gold. Cross of GoldLauretta…

Book excerpts

Read an excerpt from Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela, the new isiZulu translation of Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s acclaimed novel The Ones with Purpose

The JRB presents an excerpt from Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela, a new isiZulu translation of Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s novel The Ones…

Book excerpts

‘He cut himself from his country. He had been so proud. But he was damaged by the loss’—Read an excerpt from Lying Perfectly Still by the late Laura Fish

The JRB presents an excerpt from Lying Perfectly Still by Laura Fish, who passed away shortly before her novel’s publication….

Academic

[The JRB Daily] Morabo Morojele and Jarred Thompson win 2024 UJ Prizes for South African Writing in English for ‘masterful’ and ‘extraordinarily original’ novels

Morabo Morojele and Jarred Thompson have been announced as the winners of the 2024 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South…

Africa

[The JRB Daily] ‘A triumph of language, storytelling and risk-taking’—South African writer Nadia Davids wins 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing

South African writer Nadia Davids has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing! The…

Awards

[The JRB Daily] ‘Global voices, strong voices and new voices’—2024 Booker Prize longlist announced, including American born British–Libyan writer Hisham Matar

The 2024 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, featuring ‘blackly comic page-turners, multigenerational epics, meditations on the pain of exile—plus…

Africa

[The JRB Daily] Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani wins the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award for her ‘astonishingly fresh and accomplished’ novel Buried in the Chest

Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, for her novel manuscript ‘Buried…