[The JRB Daily] English Academy of Southern Africa Awards winners announced
The full list of winners of the English Academy of Southern Africa Awards for writing have been announced. In addition…
Category: Fiction
Toni Morrison, 1931—2019, RIP
Toni Morrison, celebrated novelist and Nobel Laureate, has died, aged eighty-eight. Morrison passed away at the Montefiore Medical Center in…
To be human is to be capable of great love and truly awful behaviour—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
A novel of feminist radicalism, readable in the best sense of the word—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn, who will be…
An exhilarating elegy for the slaves and storytellers of old—Lara Buxbaum reviews Patrick Chamoiseau’s wildly inventive novel The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Tracing the memory of bones, ‘a long thread of words that attempted to fulfil the universe’—Lara Buxbaum reviews The Old…
[The JRB exclusive] New short fiction: ‘Happy City Hotel’ by Adam El Shalakany, winner of the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize
The JRB presents the winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. Egyptian writer Adam El Shalakany won the…
Reflections on an afternoon in Coyaba—Elinor Sisulu on meeting Peter Abrahams, an almost forgotten South African literary centenarian
This year marks one hundred years since Peter Abrahams’s birth. Elinor Sisulu reflects on her meeting with the author at…
Read an excerpt from the forthcoming English translation of Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida’s award-winning debut novel That Hair, from the new anthology New Daughters of Africa
In celebration of Women’s Month, The JRB presents a series of excerpts from New Daughters of Africa. Edited by Margaret…
[The JRB exclusive] New short fiction: ‘Mr Thompson’ by Noel Cheruto, first runner-up in the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize
The JRB presents the winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. Egyptian writer Adam El Shalakany won the…
[The JRB exclusive] New short fiction: ‘The Space(s) Between Us’ by Lester Walbrugh, second runner-up in the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize
The JRB presents the winning stories from this year’s Short Story Day Africa Prize. Egyptian writer Adam El Shalakany won the…
[The JRB Daily] Short Story Day Africa winners announced—‘the closest competition yet seen in SSDA’s history’
Egyptian writer Adam El Shalakany has won the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize for his story ‘Happy City Hotel’—becoming the…
Harry Kalmer, 1956—2019, RIP
Celebrated novelist and playwright Harry Kalmer has died, at the age of sixty-two. Kalmer passed away on 26 July 2019,…
[The JRB Daily] 9mobile Prize Board of Patrons announce resignation—statement by Ama Ata Aidoo, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Margaret Busby, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Zakes Mda and Dele Olojede
The JRB has received a statement from the Board of Patrons of the 9mobile Prize for Literature, indicating their resignation…
[The JRB Daily] 9mobile releases statement confirming that a winner for the 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature will be announced
Telecommunications company 9mobile has sent out a press release clarifying—to a point—the status of the 9mobile Prize for Literature, one…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Booker Prize longlist announced—including two African authors, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Chigozie Obioma
The 2019 Booker Prize longlist has been announced—described by the judges as ‘bold’, ‘lyrical’, ‘very diverse’ and ‘quite wild’. First…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists announced—celebrating ‘the best of South African non-fiction and fiction’
The shortlists for the 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been revealed! The duo of awards—the Alan Paton Award for…
[The JRB Daily] Tade Thompson’s Rosewater wins Arthur C Clarke Award, the UK’s most prestigious prize for science fiction
British-born Yoruba writer Tade Thompson has won the 33rd Arthur C Clarke Award for his novel Rosewater. The Arthur C…
Moses Mtileni, 1983—2019, RIP
Writer and publisher Moses Nzama Khaizen Mtileni has died, at the age of thirty-six. Mtileni was shot and fatally wounded…
Writing queerness as mythology—Zanta Nkumane reviews Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Zanta Nkumane reviews Ocean Vuong’s devastatingly beautiful debut On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, a novel about living in the margins,…
New short fiction: ‘Beginnings.’ by Wamuwi Mbao
The JRB presents new short fiction by Editorial Advisory Panel member and regular contributor Wamuwi Mbao. ~ ~ ~ Beginnings….
‘It’s an excavation of the darkest place in our species’—Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu interviews TC Farren about her new novel, The Book of Malachi
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author of The Theory of Flight, interviewed novelist and screenwriter TC Farren on her latest work of…
Nigerian writer Elnathan John wins 2019 Prix Les Afriques for the French translation of his novel Born on a Tuesday
Nigerian novelist Elnathan John and his French translator Céline Schwaller have been awarded the Prix Les Afriques for Né un…
[The JRB Daily] Download Short Story Day Africa’s anthology ID for free and celebrate the shortest day of the year with dynamic African short fiction
Short Story Day Africa is celebrating the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere, with…
[The JRB Daily] Debut novelist Emily Ruskovich wins International Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize, for her book Idaho
American author Emily Ruskovich has won the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award, known as ‘the world’s richest annual literary prize’,…
[The JRB Daily] The mysterious demise of the 9mobile/Etisalat Prize for Literature—the world’s biggest Pan-African book award
Sharp-eyed book lovers will have noticed that the winner of the 2018 9mobile Prize—one of literature’s most important international awards—has…
[The JRB Daily] Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s debut novel House of Stone shortlisted for inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
The shortlists for the Orwell Prizes, which aim to ‘make political writing into an art’, have been announced. Zimbabwean writer…
[The JRB Daily] Tayari Jones wins the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her ‘exquisitely intimate’ novel An American Marriage
Tayari Jones has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel An American…
‘We have entered the uncanny valley of literary realism’—Simon van Schalkwyk reviews Ian McEwan’s new novel Machines Like Me
In Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan appears to have offered us an alternative history that leads to the same dispiriting…
‘South Africa’s dystopian future could easily be imagined through its dystopian past’—Masande Ntshanga chats to Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu about his new novel, Triangulum
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author of The Theory of Flight, sat down with Masande Ntshanga to discuss his new novel, Triangulum….
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela travels to Sudan with Rania Mamoun’s newly translated collection of short stories, Thirteen Months of Sunrise
The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Sudan with Rania Mamoun’s debut collection of short stories, Thirteen Months of Sunrise,…
[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…
Cameroonian author Djaïli Amadou Amal wins €10,000 Prix Orange du livre en Afrique for her novel Munyal, les larmes de la patience
Munyal, les larmes de la patience by Cameroonian author Djaïli Amadou Amal has won the first Prix Orange du livre…
[The JRB Daily] Jokha Alharthi and Marilyn Booth win the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for Celestial Bodies
Celestial Bodies by Omani novelist Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, has been announced as the winner of the 2019…
[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 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…
Rough honesty, ample sex and ripe desire—Efemia Chela reads Leïla Slimani’s Adèle, Ariana Harwicz’s Die, My Love and Melissa Broder’s The Pisces
The JRB Contributing Editor Efemia Chela reads Adèle, Die, My Love and The Pisces, three stirring psychological novels, kindred portraits of contemporary womanhood….
[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 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 Man Booker International Prize shortlist announced—an all-female list of translators, alongside five female authors
The shortlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize, celebrating the ‘finest works of translated fiction from around the world’, has…