Academic

A profoundly beautiful exploration of what ageing means for those who lived in compact with racial separation—Wamuwi Mbao reviews God’s Waiting Room by Casey Golomski

What does it mean to want grace after such a thing as apartheid? What might it look like? God’s Waiting…

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,…

Academic

Omar Badsha: an ordinary South African whose struggles and triumphs offer insights into broader social movements—Sean Jacobs reviews Available Light by Daniel Magaziner

Available Light continues Daniel Magaziner’s significant work in shedding light on the lives of Black artists and intellectuals under apartheid,…

Academic

‘The centre of my world is going to be where I say it is’—An interview with Ellah Wakatama on African publishing, excerpted from Imprint Africa

The JRB presents an interview with Ellah Wakatama, facilitated by Joel Cabrita, excerpted from Imprint Africa: Conversations with African Women…

Academic

‘They began to see that science was not isolated from politics but shaped by it’—Read an excerpt from Our Science, Ourselves by Christa Kuljian

The JRB presents an excerpt from Christa Kuljian’s new book, Our Science, Ourselves: How Gender, Race, and Social Movements Shaped…

Academic

‘Africans are free only to the extent of breathing’—Read an excerpt from An Ethos of Transdisciplinarity: Conversations with Toyin Falola by Sanya Osha

The JRB presents an excerpt from Sanya Osha’s latest book An Ethos of Transdisciplinarity: Conversations with Toyin Falola. An Ethos…

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….

Academic

‘In Africa, the conservative realism of the military mind met the liberatory spirit of the decolonising mind’—Read an excerpt from Soldier’s Paradise by Samuel Fury Childs Daly

The JRB presents an excerpt from Samuel Fury Childs Daly’s new book, Soldier’s Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire.  Soldier′s…

International

‘The trees of the city provide a subtext for many things’—Salimah Valiani talks to Anna Stroud about her new poetry collection, IGoli/EGoli

Salimah Valiani chats to Anna Stroud about maps, trees and all the ingredients for love one can find in Johannesburg—and…

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….

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

‘A welcome addition to the growing list of literature centring queer lives in Africa’—Shayera Dark reviews Musih Tedji Xaviere’s debut novel These Letters End in Tears

As a novel centred on lesbian love set in an intensely homophobic country, These Letters End in Tears by Musih…

Academic

Continuities between Tswana worlds and Black world politics—Read an excerpt from Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement by Uhuru Portia Phalafala

The JRB presents an excerpt from Uhuru Portia Phalafala’s new book, Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement. Keorapetse Kgositsile…

Africa

‘The dread of Whites and of ghosts loomed in his mind’—Read an excerpt from the new English translation of Louis Timagène Houat’s rediscovered classic The Maroons

The JRB presents an excerpt from the rediscovered classic The Maroons, first published in 1844 and released for the first…