Caught in the surreal postcolonial swirl: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou
Black Moses Alain Mabanckou Serpent’s Tail 2017 (Man Booker International Prize finalist) A young man visits a doctor in the…
Category: Fiction
‘Writing is sometimes like a thread that weaves all our hearts into one’: Lidudumalingani reflects on his Caine Prize visit to the United States
Lidudumalingani won the 2016 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story ‘Memories We Lost’. As part of the…
English here is the foreign language: A conversation with Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, author of Season of Crimson Blossoms
Season of Crimson Blossoms Abubakar Adam Ibrahim Cassava Republic Press/Pan Macmillan South Africa 2016 Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, winner of the…
We are not dogs! We must get organised: Percy Zvomuya reviews The Beggars’ Strike by Aminata Sow Fall
Percy Zvomuya reviews The Beggars’ Strike, by Senegalese author Aminata Sow Fall, first published in English in 1981. The Beggars’…
[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…
[Temporary Sojourner] How little has changed in thirty-nine years: Efemia Chela reads Dambudzo Marechera’s The House of Hunger
The House of Hunger Dambudzo Marechera First published Pantheon Books 1978; this edition Heinemann African Writers Series 2009 We knew…
New short fiction from Queer Africa 2: ‘Nine Pieces of Desire’ by Idza L
Exclusive to The JRB, new short fiction by Kenyan writer Idza L excerpted from Queer Africa 2, courtesy of MaThoko’s Books,…
Exclusive to The JRB: Listen to Abubakar Adam Ibrahim read from Season of Crimson Blossoms
Season of Crimson Blossoms Abubakar Adam Ibrahim Cassava Republic Press/Pan Macmillan South Africa 2016 The JRB recorded this reading by…
It was a hard book to write: Kopano Matlwa discusses her latest novel, Period Pain
Period Pain Kopano Matlwa Jacana Media 2017 Kopano Matlwa burst onto the literary scene in 2007 with the publication of…
Welcome to Jozi maboneng, the place of lights: Read an excerpt from After Tears by Niq Mhlongo
The JRB’s City Editor, Niq Mhlongo, gave Johannesburg’s vibrant arts precinct, Maboneng, its name. Here is an excerpt from his…
The anthology we have been waiting for: Panashe Chigumadzi reviews Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? Kathleen Collins Granta 2017 Black women as you have never seen them before, on screen…
[Sponsored] Submit your manuscript to Pan Macmillan during an open submissions window in May
Pan Macmillan South Africa, one of South Africa’s leading publishers, does not as a rule accept unsolicited manuscripts, but has an open…
On Things Fall Apart and Things Falling Apart—Simon van Schalkwyk considers modernism in the here and now
1. Chinua Achebe, modernist What might it mean to offer a suite of lectures on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart…
All too exhilarating: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Naomi Alderman’s Baileys Prize-shortlisted sci-fi novel The Power
Update: Naomi Alderman has since been announced as the winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction The Power Naomi…
Rest in Power, Pa Kojo: Paying tribute to Kojo Laing
Ghanaian novelist and poet B Kojo Laing passed away on Thursday, 20 April 2017 in Ghana. The JRB gathered tributes…
The limits of counterfactual fiction: Percy Zvomuya reviews Bertène Juminer’s Bozambo’s Revenge and Michel Houellebecq’s Submission
La Revanche de Bozambo / Bozambo’s Revenge Bertène Juminer Présence Africaine, 1968 (French ed.)/Three Continents Press, 1968 (English ed.) Submission…
A knockout crime debut from Lagos: Ben Williams reviews Leye Adenle’s Easy Motion Tourist
Easy Motion Tourist Leye Adenle Cassava Republic Press/Pan Macmillan South Africa 2016 1. On September 21st 2015, a Monday, a…
All you need is luck: Jennifer Malec reviews Zadie Smith’s Swing Time and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers
Swing Time Zadie Smith Penguin Books 2016 Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue HarperCollins 2017 1. Zadie Smith’s new novel, Swing…
[Photo Editor] Two original portraits by Victor Dlamini: Binyavanga Wainaina and Niq Mhlongo
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. ~~~ Author Binyavanga Wainaina, photographed…
Exclusive to The JRB: Listen to Leye Adenle read from Easy Motion Tourist
Easy Motion Tourist Leye Adenle Cassava Republic Press/Pan Macmillan South Africa 2016 The JRB recorded this reading by Leye Adenle…
Sudanese author Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin wins Prix du livre engagé de la Cène Littéraire for his novel Le Messie du Darfour
Congratulations are in order: Sudanese author Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin’s novel Le Messie du Darfour has won the 2017 Prix du livre engagé…
New short fiction from Short Story Day Africa: ‘Things We Found North of the Sunset’ by Aba Asibon
Exclusive to The JRB, new short fiction from Aba Asibon, courtesy of Short Story Day Africa. Short Story Day Africa’s…