[The JRB Daily] Samantha Harvey wins the 2024 Booker Prize for her ‘compact yet beautifully expansive’ novel Orbital
Header image: Courtesy of the Booker Prize British author Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital….
Category: United Kingdom
An elegant study of friendship amid the rootedness of political exile—Shayera Dark reviews Hisham Matar’s novel My Friends
In My Friends, Hisham Matar hones in on the push and pull of friendships, their guiding light and the cushion-like…
The treachery and tenacity of fraternal devotion—Jennifer Malec reviews Sally Rooney’s new novel, Intermezzo
In Intermezzo, sexual tension and spiky wit give way to a deeper sense of tenderness and a lighter brand of…
‘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….
[The JRB Daily] ‘The fault lines of our times are here’—2024 Booker Prize shortlist announced
The 2024 Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, offering ‘a diversity of perspective, style and subject matter’. First awarded in…
[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…
[The JRB Daily] Caine Prize reveals 2024 shortlist, and plans to ‘re-centre the announcement on the African continent’
The shortlist for the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing, awarded annually for a short story by an African writer…
[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…
[The JRB Daily] ‘The punch of a good short story leaves you breathless’—2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced
Header image: Reena Usha Rungoo, Sanjana Thakur, Julie Bouchard, Portia Subran, Pip Robertson The regional winners of the 2024 Commonwealth…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Both beautiful and uncomfortable, personal and political’—Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, wins 2024 International Booker Prize
Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, translated by Michael Hofmann, has been announced as the winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize….
[Conversation Issue] ‘I don’t want to tell my reader what to feel; I want to make them feel’—Tan Twan Eng chats to Jennifer Malec about his new novel The House of Doors
Tan Twan Eng’s third novel, The House of Doors, was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and has just been longlisted…
[The JRB Daily] Paul Lynch wins the 2023 Booker Prize for his ‘soul-shattering and true’ novel Prophet Song
Paul Lynch has won the 2023 Booker Prize for his novel Prophet Song. He receives £50,000 and was presented with…
Poetry by Isobel Dixon, from A Whistling of Birds
The JRB presents an excerpt from A Whistling of Birds by Isobel Dixon. A Whistling of BirdsIsobel DixonHuman & Rousseau,…
‘The stranger was on his feet, healing impossibly fast, even for what he was’—Read an excerpt from Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ’s award-winning debut novel Dazzling
The JRB presents an excerpt from Dazzling by Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ. Dazzling Chịkọdịlị EmelụmadụHeadline Publishing Group The Arrival Long Before They…
‘All the black people in Oxford—the whole lot of them—were coming to see Ian Smith’—Read an excerpt from Buntu Siwisa’s debut novel, Paperless
The JRB presents an excerpt fom Paperless by Buntu Siwisa. PaperlessBuntu SiwisaJacana Media, 2023 One I was on my way…
[The JRB Daily] Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo become first Senegalese writers to win Caine Prize for African Writing
Senegalese writers Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo have been awarded the 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing for their…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Vibrant, nervy, electric, astonishing’ 2023 Booker Prize shortlist announced
The 2023 Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, offering ‘a sense of timelessness even while saying something about how we…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘How are we supposed to fight something we can’t see?’—Read an excerpt from Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs, winner of the inaugural Island Prize
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs, winner of the 2022 Island Prize for a…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A list to bring wonder’—2023 Booker Prize longlist announced, including Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ and Tan Twan Eng
The 2023 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, offering ‘startling portraits of the current’. The thirteen longlisted books explore ‘universal…
[The JRB Daily] 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced, showcasing ‘the depth and scope of writing on the continent and beyond’
The shortlist for the 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing, awarded annually for a short story by an African writer…
[The JRB Daily] Barbara Kingsolver becomes first two-time winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her ‘deeply powerful’ novel Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver has won the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel Demon Copperhead. With the win, Kingsolver becomes…
[The JRB Daily] Sudanese writer Reem Gaafar wins 2023 Island Prize for ‘compelling, profound and brilliant’ debut novel A Mouth Full of Salt
‘A Mouth Full of Salt’ by Sudanese writer Reem Gaafar has won the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A brilliant novel, full of irony and melancholy’—Georgi Gospodinov becomes first ever Bulgarian to win the International Booker Prize, for Time Shelter
Author Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel have been announced as the winners of the 2023 International Booker Prize for…
[The JRB Daily] 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including this year’s youngest winner Hana Gammon from South Africa
Header image (l to r, top to bottom): Hana Gammon, Agnes Chew, Rue Baldry, Kwame McPherson, Himali McInnes The regional…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Emotional, intellectual and literary depth’—shortlist announced for the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa
Image: Aganaba, Jesudubami Jemima; Reem Gaafar; Andile MaShandu Cele The shortlist for the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from…
A decolonisation that dare not speak its name—George Hull reviews Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò’s Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously
George Hull reviews Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò. Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency SeriouslyOlúfẹ́mi TáíwòHurst &…
‘A superb macaron of darkly satirical fiction’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Helen DeWitt’s new novella The English Understand Wool
Wamuwi Mbao reviews The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, a book that contains ‘one of the most alarmingly enjoyable…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Ambitious, eclectic and hard-hitting’—shortlist announced for 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction
The shortlist for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. Half of this year’s list is made up…
[The JRB Daily] ‘These books are all bold, subversive, nicely perverse’—2023 International Booker Prize shortlist announced
The six novels shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize have been revealed, including Guadeloupian author Maryse Condé, described by…
[The JRB Daily] 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced—including six new writers from Africa
Header image: Africa Region shortlistees Buke Abduba, Josiah Mbote, HB Asari, Michael Boyd, Hana Gammon, Matshediso Radebe The shortlist for…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Holy ****! Is this real?’ Winners of R3m Windham–Campbell Prizes for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama announced
The eight winners of the 2023 Windham–Campbell Prizes have been announced. Now in its eleventh year, the Windham–Campbell Prize is one of…
[The JRB Daily] 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa longlist announced
The writers longlisted for the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa have been announced. This literary prize,…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Celebrating the variety and diversity of literary production today’—2023 International Booker Prize longlist announced
The thirteen novels longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize have been revealed, including Guadeloupian author Maryse Condé, described by…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A glorious celebration of the boundless imagination and creative ambition of women writers’—2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist announced, including Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo
The longlist for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced, including Zimbabwean novelist NoViolet Bulawayo. The Women’s Prize,…
[The JRB Daily] Yewande Omotoso and NoViolet Bulawayo longlisted for 2023 Dublin Literary Award—the world’s richest annual literary prize
Yewande Omotoso and NoViolet Bulawayo are among a number of writers from Africa longlisted for this year’s Dublin Literary Award….
[Fiction Issue] ‘We thought she’d welcome us. We thought it was simple’—Read an excerpt from Saleh Addonia’s short story ‘She is Another Country’
The JRB presents an excerpt from ‘She is Another Country’, a short story from The Feeling House, the debut collection…
[Fiction Issue] ‘What’s Nigeria got to do with us? … They hate us there.’—Read an excerpt from Okechukwu Nzelu’s novel Here Again Now
The JRB presents an excerpt from Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu. Here Again Now Okechukwu NzeluLittle, Brown, 2022 Ekene…
[Fiction Issue] Read an excerpt from Victor Forna’s short story ‘They Will Fly with Blooded Wings’, from the Caine Prize anthology A Mind to Silence and Other Stories
The JRB presents an excerpt from Victor Forna’s short story ‘They Will Fly with Blooded Wings’, excerpted from A Mind…
[Fiction Issue] ‘You need a plan … To lose your temper is to lose the battle’—Read an excerpt from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel The Marriage Portrait
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. The Marriage PortraitMaggie O’FarrellHeadline, 2022 Venison baked in…
Two poems by Tjawangwa Dema, from an/other pastoral
The JRB presents two poems from Tjawangwa Dema’s collection an/other pastoral. an/other pastoral Tjawangwa Dema, illustrated by Tebogo CranwellNo Bindings, 2022 Prologue: Hypothesis…