[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,…
Category: United Kingdom
[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…
[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…
[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…
[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…
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…
‘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…
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…
‘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…
‘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…
[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] ‘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…
The Granta emails, or How to Write About Africa revisited—notes on catalysing a moment of literary reparations, by Nkiacha Atemnkeng
I cannot count the number of times I’ve read the late Binyavanga Wainaina’s viral Granta essay, ‘How to write about…
‘To them, being brown was an asset, not a liability. It meant you could always fit in’—Read an excerpt from Wahala, the new novel by Nikki May
The JRB presents an excerpt from Nikki May’s debut novel, Wahala. WahalaNikki MayPenguin Random House, 2022 Read the excerpt: Boo…
[The JRB Daily] Mary Watson wins 2022 Philida Literary Award for ‘an oeuvre of literary excellence’
Mary Watson has been announced as the winner of the 2022 Philida Literary Award. The prize, established by Karina M…
[Fiction Issue] ‘Khalifa did not suspect with what nostalgia he would remember those days in later life’—Read an excerpt from Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Afterlives
The JRB presents an excerpt from Afterlives, the new novel from Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in…
[Fiction Issue] ‘Sometimes it felt as if I were speaking into a body of water’—Read an excerpt from CA Davids’s new novel How to Be a Revolutionary
The JRB presents an excerpt from How to Be a Revolutionary, the new novel by CA Davids. How to Be…
[Fiction Issue] ‘Prayer was standing in front of me, in panties’—Read an excerpt from the forthcoming collection Anonymous Sex
The JRB presents an excerpt from Anonymous Sex, a forthcoming anthology edited by Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan. Anonymous SexEdited…