[The JRB Daily] Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa call for submissions
Submissions for the second annual Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa are now open. This literary prize, founded…
Category: International
[The JRB Daily] ‘An afterlife noir that dissolves the boundaries of life and death, east and west’—Shehan Karunatilaka wins 2022 Booker Prize for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Shehan Karunatilaka has won the 2022 Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Karunatilka…
[The JRB Daily] Annie Ernaux receives the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
French author Annie Ernaux has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced today in Stockholm….
Hilary Mantel, 1952—2022, RIP
Hilary Mantel, the two-time Booker Prize-winning author of the bestselling Wolf Hall trilogy, has died aged seventy, her publisher has…
‘What happens when you have a crime committed against a person that never ever comes to an end?’—Margie Orford talks to Jennifer Malec about her new novel The Eye of the Beholder
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec sat down with Margie Orford to talk about the challenges of writing about sexual violence, the politics…
‘An important collective political work’—Fungai Machirori reviews The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s The Sex Lives of African Women is an important addition to writing that resists the fetishisation of…
A rich history and a rapidly evolving industry—View photographs from Africa in Fashion: Luxury, Craft and Textile Heritage by Ken Kweku Nimo
The JRB presents an excerpt from Ken Kweku Nimo’s new book Africa in Fashion: Luxury, Craft and Textile Heritage. Africa…
‘He looked like a bad decision. The best kind of bad decision’—Read an excerpt from Bolu Babalola’s debut novel Honey and Spice
The JRB presents an excerpt from Honey and Spice, the new novel from Bolu Babalola. Honey and SpiceBolu BabalolaHeadline, 2022…
Read an excerpt from Ben Okri’s new novel The Last Gift of the Master Artists
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Last Gift of the Master Artists, the new novel from Ben Okri. The…
‘People were continuing to change, white people becoming dark’—Read an excerpt from The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
The JRB presents an excerpt from Mohsin Hamid‘s new novel The Last White Man. The Last White ManMohsin HamidPenguin, 2022…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Powerful’ 2022 Booker Prize shortlist announced—including NoViolet Bulawayo for Glory
The shortlist for the 2022 Booker Prize has been announced, including Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo. Bulawayo is shortlisted for Glory,…
[The JRB Daily] 2022 Booker Prize longlist announced—including NoViolet Bulawayo for Glory
The 2022 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, offering ‘story, fable and parable, fantasy, mystery, meditation and thriller’. This year…
[The JRB Daily] ‘An incandescent story’—Kenyan writer Idza Luhumyo wins 2022 Caine Prize for African Writing
Kenyan writer Idza Luhumyo’s has been awarded the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Five Years…
Interrogating the tensions and contradictions around questions of identity—Shayera Dark reviews If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga
Shayera Dark reviews Noor Naga’s experimental debut novel If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, winner of the Graywolf Press Africa…
Kei Miller ‘alchemises the personal experience of Blackness into something deeply transportive’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews the award-winning Things I Have Withheld
Kei Miller’s collection of essays Things I Have Withheld takes the measure of what it means to read and be…
‘I find hope in the super uncomfortable, taboo-to-talk-about, ugly things’—Lebohang Mojapelo interviews Warsan Shire on her new book, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
Lebohang Mojapelo speaks to Warsan Shire about that Beyoncé moment, the importance of bearing witness, and her new book, Bless…
African awakenings—Dipo Faloyin chats to Khanya Mtshali about his new book Africa is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa
When I read Africa is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa by Dipo Faloyin, I was overcome with…
‘We’re not there to beg for a place on bookshelves in German bookshops but we’re there to demand it, to claim it’—Lidudumalingani on the 2022 African Book Festival
The JRB chats to guest City Editor Lidudumalingani about his curatorship of this year’s African Book Festival, taking place from…
‘Even with just her mouth alone she could do serious battle and slay’—Read an exclusive excerpt from NoViolet Bulawayo’s new novel Glory
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Glory, the highly anticipated new novel from NoViolet Bulawayo. GloryNoViolet BulawayoPenguin Random House,…
[Photo Editor] A portrait of Bassey Ikpi by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. See this ten-year retrospective of his portraits. View this…
‘Almost all of Africa’s ancient artistic heritage is now preserved in European countries’—Read an excerpt from Bénédicte Savoy’s Africa’s Struggle for Its Art
The JRB presents an excerpt from Africa’s Struggle for Its Art: History of a Postcolonial Defeat by Bénédicte Savoy. Africa’s…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Talent that will no doubt take the world by storm’—Ntsika Kota becomes first writer from Eswatini to win global Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Ntsika Kota has been announced as the overall winner of the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, making history as the…
[The JRB Daily] ‘This is absurd, I don’t win things’—Ruth Ozeki awarded 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction for The Book of Form and Emptiness
American–Canadian author, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki has been announced as the winner of the 2022 Women’s Prize…
[The JRB Daily] 2022 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced—‘a staggering feast’
The shortlist for the 2022 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, awarded annually for a short story by an African…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A laughing elegy, that retains hope in the face of impending doom’—Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell win 2022 International Booker Prize for Tomb of Sand
Image: International Booker Prize Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, has been…
[The JRB Daily] 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including first-ever win for Eswatini
The regional winners of the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, known as the ‘world’s most global literary prize’, have been…
[The JRB Daily] ‘There is a myth that there is only one type of storytelling in Africa’—Sarah Isaacs wins inaugural Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa
South African writer Sarah Isaacs has won the inaugural Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa with her manuscript…
[The JRB Daily] Short Story Day Africa announce 12 writers selected for 2022 Inkubator project
The twelve writers selected for the first Short Story Day Africa Inkubator project have been announced. 36 Short Stories, 12…
‘Your story told by someone else might in the end be richer’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Culture and Liberation, the first dedicated collection of Alex La Guma’s exile writing
Culture and Liberation: Exile Writings, 1966–1985Alex La GumaEdited by Christopher J LeeSeagull Books 1966 was an interesting year. Future Trump…
‘Recitatif is cunning in its ability to expose us’—Masiyaleti Mbewe reflects on Toni Morrison’s only short story
To respect this text is to revisit it: Masiyaleti Mbewe reviews the new standalone edition of Toni Morrison’s Recitatif. RecitatifToni…
Tales from Mombasa—Carey Baraka speaks to Khadija Abdalla Bajaber about her award-winning debut novel, The House of Rust
Carey Baraka reviews The House of Rust, the latest tale from Mombasa, land of fables, and chats to its author,…
‘My writing comes alive when I have questions, when I don’t know where I’m headed, when I’m in the dark’—Yewande Omotoso chats to Jennifer Malec about her new novel An Unusual Grief
The JRB’s Editor Jennifer Malec chats to Yewande Omotoso about questions, answers, and her new novel, An Unusual Grief. An Unusual GriefYewande OmotosoCassava,…
‘I was constantly weaving fact and fiction, and blurring truth with fable’—CA Davids chats to Efemia Chela about her new novel How to Be a Revolutionary
Contributing Editor Efemia Chela speaks to CA Davids about her new novel, How to Be a Revolutionary. How to Be a RevolutionaryCA…
Wole Soyinka vs Caroline Davis—The CIA Controversy by Adekeye Adebajo
In 2020, Caroline Davis, a British scholar, now based at England’s University College London, published the book African Literature and…
‘She wonders whether the clothes of our dead look different’—Read an excerpt from Yewande Omotoso’s new novel, An Unusual Grief
The JRB presents an excerpt from An Unusual Grief, the new novel from Yewande Omotoso. An Unusual GriefYewande OmotosoCassava Republic…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Wildly original works of literature that will captivate readers’—2022 International Booker Prize shortlist announced
The six novels shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize have been revealed. The International Booker Prize celebrates ‘the finest…
[The JRB Daily] ‘You have changed my life!’ Three African writers among the winners of the 2022 Windham–Campbell Prizes
Header image: Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Emmanuel Iduma. The winners of the 2022 Windham–Campbell Prizes have been announced, including three…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Tracing a ring around the world’—2022 International Booker Prize longlist announced
The thirteen novels longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize have been revealed. This year’s longlist includes work translated into…
‘No reprieve from the myriad invisible cuts inflicted by a society hostile to the colour of their skin’—Shayera Dark reviews Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström’s In Every Mirror She’s Black
Shayera Dark reviews In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström. In Every Mirror She’s BlackLọlá Ákínmádé ÅkerströmHead of Zeus,…
‘It was a book I told friends no one would ever read’—Wamuwi Mbao talks to Jason Mott about his National Book Award-winning novel Hell of a Book
Jason Mott, whose Hell of a Book was awarded the National Book Award for Fiction as well as the Sir…