‘Exploring the recesses of loss with elegance’—Thulani Angoma-Mzini contemplates the 2021 Caine Prize shortlist
Meron Hadero was recently awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, becoming the first Ethiopian author to claim…
Category: United Kingdom
‘He could hear it. A sound that made his back grow cold, made the hair on his arms rise. It was the sound of bones’—Read an excerpt from An Island by Karen Jennings
The JRB presents an excerpt from Karen Jennings’s new novel An Island, which was recently longlisted for the Booker Prize….
[The JRB Daily] 2021 Booker Prize longlist announced—including Damon Galgut, Karen Jennings and Nadifa Mohamed
The 2021 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, with this year’s crop of thirteen novels described by the judges as…
[The JRB Daily] Meron Hadero wins the 2021 Caine Prize for African Writing—becoming the first Ethiopian writer to take the award
Ethiopian–American writer Meron Hadero has been awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, for her short story ‘The…
Three bombs and a miracle—Simon van Schalkwyk reviews Klara and the Sun, the new novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun contemplates the erasure of the imagined boundary between human authenticity and the artifice of…
A Tale of Two Continents—Adekeye Adebajo unpacks Dickens in Africa
For reasons technical, historical and—above all—thematic, Dickens is writ large in African literature, writes Adekeye Adebajo. As we approach the…
Pushkin’s African heritage—Read an excerpt from African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele
The JRB presents an excerpt from Olivette Otele’s African Europeans: An Untold History, which was recently shortlisted for the Orwell…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including Rwandan-born Namibian author Rémy Ngamije
Header image: Rémy Ngamije (Namibia), Roland Watson-Grant (Jamaica), Kanya D’Almeida (Sri Lanka), Carol Farrelly (UK), Katerina Gibson (Australia) The regional…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Women’s fiction at its finest’—shortlist announced for 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction, including Ghanaian–American writer Yaa Gyasi
The shortlist for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced—featuring six writers who have never been shortlisted for…
‘I wanted to explore the “otherness” we feel when we go back home’—Femi Kayode talks to Jennifer Malec about his debut novel, Lightseekers
Femi Kayode chatted to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about being ‘other’ in your home country, the nature of evil, and his…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 International Booker Prize longlist announced—Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o becomes first person to be nominated as both author and translator
The thirteen novels longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize have been revealed. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has made history this…
[The JRB Daily] Longlist announced for 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction, including Ghanaian–American novelist Yaa Gyasi
The longlist for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced, including Ghanaian–American novelist Yaa Gyasi. Gyasi has been…
Poetry as a short circuit in the machine of communication—Lidudumalingani talks to Simon van Schalkwyk about his debut collection, Transcontinental Delay
Guest City Editor Lidudumalingani talks to Academic Editor Simon van Schalkwyk about identity, memory, psychogeography, and his new poetry collection,…
[Fiction Issue] ‘But what if I give birth to a girl?’—Read an excerpt from Helen Moffett’s debut solo novel, Charlotte
The JRB presents an excerpt from Helen Moffett’s debut solo novel, Charlotte. CharlotteHelen MoffettBonnier Zaffre, 2020 Read the excerpt: Mrs…
‘We touch down, and I pray for the land of my ancestors to be good to me’—Read an excerpt from No Be From Hia by Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda
The JRB presents an excerpt from No Be From Hia, the debut novel by Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda. No Be From…
Tracing the rich tapestry of Black British life—Adekeye Adebajo reviews Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation by Colin Grant
Colin Grant’s Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation is an important and valuable text that has captured the voices that…
[The JRB Daily] Anna Burns wins the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award for her novel Milkman
Irish author Anna Burns has won the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award—known as the world’s richest annual literary prize—for her…
[The JRB Daily] Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift wins the 2020 Arthur C Clarke Award
Update 25 Sep 20: Serpell has donated her prize money to bail funds for protestors in the United States who…
[The JRB Daily] The 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced—including Tsitsi Dangarembga and Maaza Mengiste
The 2020 Booker Prize shortlist has been revealed—and includes two African authors for the first time in years: Tsitsi Dangarembga…
[The JRB Daily] Maggie O’Farrell wins 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel Hamnet
British author Maggie O’Farrell has been announced as the winner of this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, for her novel…
Embodying the resurgence in Black surrealism—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Nudibranch by 2020 Caine Prize winner Irenosen Okojie
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Irenosen Okojie’s Nudibranch, the ‘immersively deranged’ collection containing her 2020 Caine Prize-winning story. Nudibranch Irenosen OkojieLittle, Brown,…
‘The idea of literary imagination as a kind of violation’—Imraan Coovadia considers JM Coetzee’s Disgrace, excerpted from his new book Revolution and Non-Violence in Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Mandela
The JRB presents an excerpt from Imraan Coovadia’s new book Revolution and Non-Violence in Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Mandela. Revolution and…
[The JRB Daily] ‘It is so important now that Africans own their own narrative’—Irenosen Okojie wins the 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing
Irenosen Okojie has won the AKO Caine Prize for African writing, for her story ‘Grace Jones’. Announcing the award, chair…
What continuities can be drawn from the murder of Ahmed Timol in apartheid Joburg to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis? Wamuwi Mbao unpacks the debased tradition of police murdering civilians
The abolition of slavery, formalised gender discrimination, apartheid and other reprehensible ways of being did not occur simply through continued…
Pan-African Anti-Racism and Solidarity Reading List: A Resource from The JRB
In continuing solidarity with the progressive literary community and all who fight racism and anti-Black violence, The JRB presents this…
[The JRB Daily] Zambian author Namwali Serpell shortlisted for Arthur C Clarke Award, the UK’s most prestigious prize for science fiction
The shortlist for the 34th Arthur C Clarke Award has been announced, including The Old Drift by Zambian author Namwali…
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including Nigerian writer Innocent Chizaram Ilo
The regional winners of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, known as the world’s ‘most global literature prize’, have been…
[Sampler issue] Read an exclusive excerpt from Abi Daré’s debut novel The Girl with the Louding Voice, ‘a celebration of girls who dare to dream’
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Girl with the Louding Voice, the debut novel by Abi Daré. The Girl…
[Sampler issue] Read an excerpt from Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell—a fictionalised account of the short life of William Shakepeare’s son
The JRB presents an excerpt from Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. HamnetMaggie O’FarrellHeadline, 2020…
[The JRB Daily] 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist announced—including Rémy Ngamije’s ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’, first published in The JRB
The shortlist for the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced, including ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’ by Rémy…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Providing hope, a moment of escape and a point of connection’—heavy-hitting shortlist announced for 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction
The shortlist for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. The prize, now in its twenty-fifth year, aims…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Discomforting and elating encounters with selves in a state of transition’—2020 International Booker Prize shortlist announced
The six-book shortlist for the 2020 International Booker Prize has been revealed. For the second year running, the shortlist is…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A delightfully queer treatment of everyday life’—Jarred Thompson wins 2020 Afritondo Short Story Prize for ‘Good Help is Hard to Find’
South African writer Jarred Thompson has been announced as the winner of the 2020 Afritondo Short Story Prize for his…
[The JRB Daily] ‘A story luminously told’—Marguerite Poland’s historical novel A Sin of Omission shortlisted for prestigious Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
The shortlist for the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has been announced, including South African author Marguerite Poland,…
‘I had to choose which “truth” would suit the story best’—Willem Anker chats to Jennifer Malec about his novel Red Dog
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec talks to Willem Anker about his novel Red Dog, which was recently longlisted for the…
[The JRB Daily] 2020 International Booker Prize longlist announced—including South African author Willem Anker, for his novel Red Dog, translated by Michiel Heyns
The longlisted books for the 2020 International Booker Prize have been revealed, featuring translations from eight languages, originating in Europe,…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘This is not a game of football, it is a slaughter of the innocents!’—Read an excerpt from JM Coetzee’s new novel The Death of Jesus
The JRB presents, exclusively in South Africa, an excerpt from The Death of Jesus, the newly published final novel of…
[The JRB Daily] The AKO Caine Prize announces 2020 judging panel—and major new sponsorship deal
The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has announced its panel of judges for 2020, and a new sponsorship deal. …
[Fiction issue] Read an excerpt from Alastair Bruce’s forthcoming novel, The Weight of Skin
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Weight of Skin by Alastair Bruce. The Weight of Skin will be published…
[The JRB Daily] 12 African writers nominated for 2020 International Dublin Literary Award—the world’s richest annual literary prize
Twelve African writers have been longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for…