Barbara Boswell reviews Elleke Boehmer’s Ice Shock, a novel saturated with extremes of love and increasingly calamitous climate events. Ice…
Sean Jacobs reviews Slow Poison by Mahmood Mamdani, a rich and textured account of Ugandan and postcolonial African politics, and…
Sean Jacobs honours the late Zöe Wicomb (1948—2025). Zöe Wicomb was a significant influence on me, a presence in my…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Robert Lowell’s Imitations and the Cold War: Containment, Leakage, Anarchy, the new book by…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Olufemi Terry’s debut novel, Wilderness of Mirrors. Wilderness of MirrorsOlufemi TerryLes Fugitives (UK), March…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Adéwálé Májà-Pearce’s forthcoming book Shine Your Eye: In Search of West Africa. Adéwálé Májà-PearceShine…
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Overthrow of Robert Mugabe: Gender, Coups, and Diplomats by Blessing-Miles Tendi. The Overthrow…
Zanta Nkumane reviews Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness, a novel not intent on building a new national myth, but…
Shayera Dark reviews the newly published reissue of Andrée Blouin’s autobiography, My Country, Africa, a book that dazzles with insightful…
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec chats to Karen Jennings about her new novel, Crooked Seeds, and making your reader’s skin crawl….
This is the ninth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB,…
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents previously unpublished poetry by Rustum Kozain. ~~~ The greatest love I believe the children are our future,…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Not This Tender, a new poetry collection by Sarah Uheida. Sarah UheidaNot This TenderDryad…
The JRB presents an excerpt from So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ, part of Apollo Africa’s new collection of…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Curry and Bread, Pravasan Pillay’s new memoir. Curry and BreadPravasan PillayDye Hard Press, 2025…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins by Hannah J Dawson. Making…
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, literary giant and cultural revolutionary, died on 28 May, 2025, aged eighty-seven. Ngũgĩ was one of Africa’s…
What does it mean to want grace after such a thing as apartheid? What might it look like? God’s Waiting…
Through the characters in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count, we see our own blind spots and our audacity to hope,…
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad is a powerful portrait of community resilience, recovery and hope in the face of overwhelming…
Available Light continues Daniel Magaziner’s significant work in shedding light on the lives of Black artists and intellectuals under apartheid,…
The Lions’ Den by Iris Mwanza is a historical thriller that reaches into many different corners of its characters’ lives,…
The JRB presents new short fiction by Megan Ross. Sweet Meat ‘Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Your History with Me: The Films of Penny Siopis, edited by Sarah Nuttall. Your…
The JRB presents an interview with Ellah Wakatama, facilitated by Joel Cabrita, excerpted from Imprint Africa: Conversations with African Women…
The JRB presents new short fiction by Yanjanani L Band, which emerged from the Caine Prize workshops, excerpted from the…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Christa Kuljian’s new book, Our Science, Ourselves: How Gender, Race, and Social Movements Shaped…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Nigel C Gibson’s new book, Frantz Fanon: Combat Breathing. Frantz Fanon: Combat BreathingNigel C…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Sanya Osha’s latest book An Ethos of Transdisciplinarity: Conversations with Toyin Falola. An Ethos…
The JRB presents—exclusively and for the first time in English—a new short story by Niq Mhlongo. This story was first…
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Roohi Choudhry’s debut novel Outside Women, which will be published in March 2025….
The JRB presents an excerpt from Under dark under branches, the new poetry collection by Joan Metelerkamp. Under dark under…
Ursula K Le Guin’s masterpiece was published fifty years ago this year. In a literary outtake from his most recent…
The JRB presents an excerpt from Samuel Fury Childs Daly’s new book, Soldier’s Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire. Soldier′s…
Header image: Courtesy of the Booker Prize British author Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital….
In My Friends, Hisham Matar hones in on the push and pull of friendships, their guiding light and the cushion-like…
Butter is keenly attuned to the many ways the private sphere runs on the disproportionate work of women while deliberately…
In Intermezzo, sexual tension and spiky wit give way to a deeper sense of tenderness and a lighter brand of…
Percy Zvomuya draws on Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan’s valuable new book Understanding Ethiopia’s Tigray War in a reading of…
Salimah Valiani chats to Anna Stroud about maps, trees and all the ingredients for love one can find in Johannesburg—and…
