Those who migrate remake the places they arrive in: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Mohsin Hamid’s latest novel, Exit West
Mohsin Hamid’s new book, Exit West, is a work of speculative fiction that will be read as ‘The Great Migration…
Category: Fiction
‘My main objective is still to help build a bigger reader base of fiction in this country and beyond’—Nozizwe Cynthia Jele chats to Jennifer Malec about her new book, The Ones with Purpose
Editorial Advisory Panel member Nozizwe Cynthia Jele chatted to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about her new novel, The Ones with Purpose, which…
Home is better than this place: Read an exclusive excerpt from Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s forthcoming novel, The Ones with Purpose
Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s new novel, The Ones with Purpose, will be out on 20 April, 2018. The Ones with Purpose Nozizwe…
The JRB Exclusive: Read an excerpt from An Eternity in Tangiers, a graphic novel that evokes the mental and physical limbo of migrancy, by Faustin Titi and Eyoum Nganguè
The JRB is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from the graphic novel An Eternity in Tangiers, by Ivorian illustrator…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Barry Ronge Fiction Prize longlist announced
The 2018 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists have been announced! The awards celebrate ‘the best of South African non-fiction and…
[The JRB Daily] Man Booker International Prize longlist announced
The longlist has been revealed for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize. The Man Booker International celebrates the finest global…
[The JRB Daily] Queer Africa 2, edited by Makhosazana Xaba and Karen Martin, announced as a 2018 Lambda Literary Awards finalist
Queer Africa 2: New Stories, a short story collection edited by The JRB Patron Makhosazana Xaba and Karen Martin, has…
‘What does the K in your name stand for?’ Read an excerpt from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel, Michael K
The JRB is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel, Michael K. Michael K Nthikeng Mohlele Picador…
[City Editor] ‘I try to appreciate township solidarity without romanticising it’: Niq Mhlongo chats to Jennifer Malec about Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec chatted to City Editor Niq Mhlongo about the banning of Inxeba, writing to music, and his brand…
A novel that takes up Baldwin’s declaration that the story of America ‘is not a pretty one’: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, winner of the 2017 National Book Award for fiction. Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn…
New short fiction: ‘Intimates’ by Mbali Sikakana
The JRB presents a new short story by Mbali Sikakana. Intimates One day she takes a plane to a small…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads José Eduardo Agualusa’s Angolan War thought experiment, A General Theory of Oblivion
Luanda’s Shrödinger’s Woman: Efemia Chela travels to Angola with José Eduardo Agualusa’s A General Theory of Oblivion, which was shortlisted for…
Skin and the Arab Spring: Read an excerpt from Tunisian author Azza Filali’s Les Intranquilles
Words without Borders’s issue dedicated to Tunisian women writers got lost in the flurry of the end of 2017, with…
[City Editor] Read an exclusive excerpt from Niq Mhlongo’s forthcoming book: Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree
The JRB is proud to present new fiction from our City Editor, Niq Mhlongo, from his forthcoming short story collection,…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads The Ultimate Tragedy, the first novel from Guinea-Bissau ever to be translated into English
Efemia Chela travels to Guinea-Bissau with Abdulai Silá’s The Ultimate Tragedy in The JRB’s Temporary Sojourner series. The Ultimate Tragedy (A Última Tragédia)…
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…
‘I started writing the book in a fit of anger with Fees Must Fall activists’—Rehana Rossouw chats to Jennifer Malec about New Times
Rehana Rossouw’s critically acclaimed debut novel, What Will People Say?, was shortlisted for the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and won…
‘These were not men fighting, but corpses’—Read an excerpt from Marcus Low’s Asylum
Read an excerpt from Marcus Low’s debut novel Asylum—an existential thriller set in a quarantine facility in the arid Karoo—which…
New short fiction: ‘The day the white people walked into the sea’ by stacy hardy
The JRB presents a new short story by stacy hardy. The day the white people walked into the sea As…
Ben Okri demonstrates the value of dreams in a ramshackle world: Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Magic Lamp
Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Magic Lamp, a new collection of meditations and stories by Ben Okri, illustrated by Rosemary Clunie. The…
Diane Awerbuck mostly does not review Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties, but mostly remembers her mother, horror fan supreme
Second-wave feminism, mansplained: Diane Awerbuck finds much to disappoint in Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties. Sleeping Beauties Stephen King…
Snapshots of Death: Allegorical short fiction from Algerian writer Chawki Amari
Two men are talking in a smoke-filled room. On the carved table in the middle of the sitting room is…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature shortlist announced
The shortlist for the 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature (formerly the Etisalat Prize for Literature) has been announced. The award…
[Conversation Issue] ‘The family is a great convenience for a writer’—Jonathan Franzen talks to Ben Williams in South Africa
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Ben Williams talks to Jonathan Franzen. Purity Jonathan Franzen Fourth Estate, 2016 American…
[Conversation Issue] Using language without restraint to show the energy of the ‘wretched of the earth’—Fiston Mwanza Mujila chats to Bongani Kona
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Bongani Kona interviews award-winning Congolese author Fiston Mwanza Mujila. Tram 83 Fiston Mwanza…
[Conversation Issue] ‘We bury our stories and wonder why we are in so much pain’—Mohale Mashigo talks to Jennifer Malec about The Yearning
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Mohale Mashigo chats to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec. The Yearning Mohale Mashigo…
[Conversation Issue] ‘I’ve become emboldened and do not give a shit anymore’—Award-winning author of Penumbra Songeziwe Mahlangu talks to Mbali Sikakana
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Mbali Sikakana interviews award-winning author Songeziwe Mahlangu. Penumbra Songeziwe Mahlangu Kwela Books, 2013…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Lagos is home, the place where I don’t have to explain myself’—Chibundu Onuzo chats to Wamuwi Mbao about Welcome to Lagos
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Wamuwi Mbao chats to Chibundu Onuzo. Welcome to Lagos Chibundu Onuzo Faber and…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Readers of African novels published in the West are a lot more diverse now’—Anietie Isong chats about his debut novel Radio Sunrise
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Anietie Isong chats to Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike about his debut novel Radio Sunrise,…
[Conversation Issue] Found poems by Makhosazana Xaba, from Mohale Mashigo’s novel The Yearning
As part of our January Conversation Issue, we present new found poetry by The JRB Patron Makhosazana Xaba, a creative…
[Conversation Issue] [City Editor] Niq Mhlongo reveals how he missed his own debut book launch, leading to an astounding moment at the Abantu Book Festival twelve years later
As part of our January Conversation Issue, The JRB presents City Editor Niq Mhlongo’s keynote speech from the 2017 BRICS…
New short fiction: Fred Khumalo’s debut isiZulu short story ‘Kwakungcono eGibhithe’, from the anthology Izinkanyezi Ezintsha
The JRB presents new fiction from novelist and memoirist Fred Khumalo. This a first for both The JRB and Khumalo:…
Guinean author Tierno Monénembo honoured with Grand Prix de la Francophonie
Guinean novelist and biochemist Tierno Monénembo received the Grand Prix de la Francophonie at a ceremony late last year at…
« Le bébé est mort. » Leïla Slimani explodes the French home in the newly translated Lullaby
The English translation of French–Moroccan author Leïla Slimani’s award-winning novel, Chanson Douce, is out this month. The book, the title…
[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] ‘This is unlike any other literary festival’—Sifiso Mzobe and Shubnum Khan talk writing at the Abantu Book Festival
Sifiso Mzobe and Shubnum Khan were in conversation with Sihle Mthembu at the Abantu Book Festival in Soweto last weekend….
[The JRB Daily] 2017 Abantu Book Festival focuses on legacy: Libraries, free books for children, and plans to rotate around South African cities
The second annual Abantu Book Festival kicked off in Soweto today, and festival director Thando Mgqolozana emphasised the event’s focus…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature longlist announced
The longlist for the 2017 9mobile Prize for Literature (formerly the Etisalat Prize for Literature) has been announced. South African…
[Fiction issue] ‘Snake Story’, new short fiction by Henrietta Rose-Innes
The JRB presents new short fiction by Contributing Editor Henrietta Rose-Innes. Author’s note: I began to write this Twitter story…
[Fiction issue] ‘Lolwethu Oluthando’, a short story by Julie Nxadi
Exclusive to The JRB, a new short story by Julie Nxadi. This story is excerpted from Cutting Carrots the Wrong Way,…