The perfect tragic vision of love and collective violence: Francophone & Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Sierra Leone by reading Aminatta…
Exclusive to The JRB, new short fiction from Ntsika Gogwana, excerpted from Trade Secrets, the new Short Sharp Stories anthology. Gogwana’s story,…
As part of the programme for an international congress on ‘The work of John Maxwell Coetzee in Latin America’, JM…
The shortlist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced, with six books described as ‘playful, sincere,…
The JRB Academic Editor Simon van Schalkwyk spoke to Paul Beatty, whose novel The Sellout won the 2016 Man Booker…
Petina Gappah sat down with The JRB contributor Bongani Kona. Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer with law degrees from Cambridge, Graz…
In the late nineteen-seventies, James Baldwin encountered an ‘extraordinary and illuminating’ Rhodesian book, which influenced his thought around black rage…
This is an an edited excerpt of a longer essay appearing in Panashe Chigumadzi’s forthcoming book, provisionally titled Beautiful Hair…
Despite a tone of hopelessness, Salman Rushdie’s latest novel The Golden House carries majesty, from its prose to its world-weary gaze….
Exclusive to The JRB, an excerpt from Achmat Dangor’s newly released novel, Dikeledi. Dangor, a political activist and award-winning author,…
The JRB’s City Editor Niq Mhlongo takes some time out from sitting under his apricot tree in Soweto to visit…
The French-language literary tradition distinguishes between ‘French’ or ‘hexagonal’ literature, written by authors born in France (the hexagon), and ‘Francophone’…
The Sellout Paul Beatty One World 2015 The JRB recorded this reading by Paul Beatty during his recent visit to…
Mauritian author Ananda Devi’s Eve Out of Her Ruins has been highly lauded since appearing in English, in late 2016,…
Since her first literary outing at seventeen with the novel Quant au riche avenir, Marie NDiaye has challenged and beguiled both readers…
The winners of the English Academy of Southern Africa Awards for writing have been announced. Geoffrey Haresnape will receive the Thomas…
18 August 2017 is the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera. He would have been sixty-five….
The fourth issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books has arrived—and not a moment too soon, in our humble opinion….
Men Without Women Haruki Murakami Harvill Secker, 2017 In Haruki Murakami’s collection of seven stories, Men without Women, the characters…
What We Lose Zinzi Clemmons Fourth Estate, 2017 Memory itself is an internal rumour —George Santayana But most of…
Dance of the Jakaranda Peter Kimani Akashic Books, 2017 Two Europeans exchange confidences on a train travelling through the Great Rift…
Africa has a language problem. We don’t read enough in our indigenous languages, and we don’t read in the same…
‘Let’s meet at 5 pm at the Big Clock.’ My host Olivier Moreillon’s words are ringing in my head as…
A State of Freedom, the new novel from Neel Mukherjee, will be out from Penguin Random House South Africa this month….
Exclusive to The JRB, new short fiction by South African writer Nick Mulgrew, excerpted from his forthcoming collection The First…
Masande Ntshanga’s debut novel, The Reactive, came out from Umuzi in 2014. Since then, it has won international publishing contracts…
Richard de Nooy’s new book, Van kleine helden, was launched in the Netherlands earlier this month. He’s currently working on…
The winners of the 2016 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English have been announced. Nthikeng Mohlele…
The longlist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced. The prize, worth £50,000, was first awarded…
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie paid homage to Binyavanga Wainaina yesterday evening, in a touching message read out at an event at…
The United Kingdom release of Henrietta Rose-Innes’s latest novel, Green Lion, is imminent, and to mark the occasion she has written…
Sudanese writer Bushra al-Fadil has won the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing for his story ‘The Story of the…
The third issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books is here, with some big reviews, in-depth interviews and quality ruminations…
The White Road, the chilling new thriller by Sarah Lotz, is out in June locally from Jonathan Ball Publishers. The…
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness Arundhati Roy Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House, 2017 Algebra. For the last twenty years Arundhati Roy…
The JRB presents new short fiction by Julie Nxadi. Love Back Kwathi kaloku ngantsomi, there were clouds too lazy to…
Having been here for three weeks now, I think it should be considered an act of blasphemy to describe or…
Firepool: Experiences in an Abnormal World Hedley Twidle Kwela, 2017 The following is an excerpt from Firepool: Experiences in an…
What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky Lesley Nneka Arimah Riverhead Books, 2017 Lesley Nneka Arimah’s debut collection of short stories,…
Dancing the Death Drill Fred Khumalo Umuzi, 2017 The historical novel presents rough seas for a writer. Attaching a novel…
