Book excerpts

[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…

Africa

[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…

Awards

[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…

Awards

[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…

Academic

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 &…

Awards

[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…

Awards

[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…

Awards

[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,…

Africa

[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…

Book excerpts

[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…

Africa

[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…

Book excerpts

[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…

Book excerpts

[The JRB exclusive] ‘The first wound for all of us who are classified as “black” is empire’—Read an excerpt from Tsitsi Dangarembga’s new book Black and Female

The JRB presents an excerpt from Black and Female by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Black and FemaleTsitsi DangarembgaFaber & Faber, 2022 Read…

Awards

[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…

Fiction

‘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…

International

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…

Interviews

‘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…

Academic

‘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…

Africa

[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…