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Category: USA

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Essays

Exquisite, but a reminder that there will never be another Baldwin: TO Molefe appraises I Am Not Your Negro, a year after its release

February 5, 2018February 6, 2018TO MolefeLeave a Comment on Exquisite, but a reminder that there will never be another Baldwin: TO Molefe appraises I Am Not Your Negro, a year after its release

TO Molefe believes Raoul Peck should have claimed I Am Not Your Negro as a new, original work, not as James…

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Essays

Diane Awerbuck mostly does not review Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties, but mostly remembers her mother, horror fan supreme

February 5, 2018Diane AwerbuckLeave a Comment on Diane Awerbuck mostly does not review Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties, but mostly remembers her mother, horror fan supreme

Second-wave feminism, mansplained: Diane Awerbuck finds much to disappoint in Stephen and Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties. Sleeping Beauties Stephen King…

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Africa

A flawed take on immigration and the rise of the right: Lebohang Mojapelo reviews Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s Go Back to Where You Came From

February 5, 2018Lebohang MojapeloLeave a Comment on A flawed take on immigration and the rise of the right: Lebohang Mojapelo reviews Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s Go Back to Where You Came From

Fear of a black planet, rather than ‘economic anxiety’, gnaws at the West’s hallowed liberal democratic principles, writes Lebohang Mojapelo….

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Africa

Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people: Kibo Ngowi considers the cult of intersectionality

February 5, 2018February 16, 2018Kibo Ngowi2 Comments on Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people: Kibo Ngowi considers the cult of intersectionality

Ta-Nehisi Coates is not the voice of black people—and, crucially, neither does he aspire to be, writes Kibo Ngowi. We…

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Academic

Letter: Translating Augustine—Sarah Ruden responds to David van Schoor

February 5, 2018Sarah RudenLeave a Comment on Letter: Translating Augustine—Sarah Ruden responds to David van Schoor

Sarah Ruden responds to David van Schoor’s letter, published in our January issue, addressing Ruden’s response to Van Schuur’s review…

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Book Events

[Conversation Issue] ‘The family is a great convenience for a writer’—Jonathan Franzen talks to Ben Williams in South Africa

January 15, 2018April 18, 2020Ben WilliamsLeave a Comment on [Conversation Issue] ‘The family is a great convenience for a writer’—Jonathan Franzen talks to Ben Williams in South Africa

As part of our January Conversation Issue, Ben Williams talks to Jonathan Franzen. Purity Jonathan Franzen Fourth Estate, 2016 American…

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Academic

Letter: David van Schoor responds to Sarah Ruden

January 15, 2018February 3, 2018David van SchoorLeave a Comment on Letter: David van Schoor responds to Sarah Ruden

David van Schoor responds to Sarah Ruden’s letter, published in our December issue, addressing Van Schoor’s review of her translation…

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Africa

Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile, South Africa’s National Poet Laureate, RIP

January 3, 2018January 3, 2018Jennifer Malec11 Comments on Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile, South Africa’s National Poet Laureate, RIP

South Africa’s National Poet Laureate, Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile, has died in Johannesburg. Kgositsile passed away at Milpark Hospital in…

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Africa

[The JRB Daily] The Johannesburg Review of Books’s Book of the Year

December 30, 2017December 30, 2017Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] The Johannesburg Review of Books’s Book of the Year

The JRB’s Editor takes a look back at 2017 and picks out the single work that left the biggest impression….

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Africa

[The JRB Daily] 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature longlist announced

December 8, 2017January 31, 2018Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature longlist announced

The longlist for the 2017 9mobile Prize for Literature (formerly the Etisalat Prize for Literature) has been announced. South African…

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Fiction

[Fiction issue] ‘Four Blocks Away’, a short story by Niq Mhlongo

December 6, 2017May 6, 2018Niq Mhlongo1 Comment on [Fiction issue] ‘Four Blocks Away’, a short story by Niq Mhlongo

The JRB presents City Editor Niq Mhlongo’s short story ‘Four Blocks Away’. The story is excerpted from Mhlongo’s most recent book,…

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Africa

Theatre and family trees: A new short story by Moroccan writer Driss Ksikes

December 6, 2017January 13, 2018Efemia ChelaLeave a Comment on Theatre and family trees: A new short story by Moroccan writer Driss Ksikes

Driss Ksikes gives us a vivid intergenerational short story in ‘Fuckin’ Family’ (‘Putain la famille’). For a long time, family…

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Africa

[The JRB Daily] He seemed invincible: Petina Gappah reflects on Robert Mugabe’s rule

November 24, 2017November 24, 2017The JRBLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] He seemed invincible: Petina Gappah reflects on Robert Mugabe’s rule

Writing for the New Yorker, The JRB Editorial Advisory Panel member Petina Gappah contemplates ‘How Zimbabwe Freed Itself From Robert Mugabe’. Mugabe’s resignation…

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Essays

[The JRB Daily] Dove, Lifebuoy and apartheid: Panashe Chigumadzi considers soap’s hidden significance in the control of black bodies

November 10, 2017November 10, 2017The JRBLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] Dove, Lifebuoy and apartheid: Panashe Chigumadzi considers soap’s hidden significance in the control of black bodies

The New York Review of Books has featured an article by Panashe Chigumadzi, titled ‘Soap and South Africa’s “Fatal Intimacy”‘….

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Fiction

‘I wanted my family to read my book and enjoy it’: Nathan Hill talks to Jennifer Malec about his bestselling debut novel The Nix

November 6, 2017April 27, 2020Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on ‘I wanted my family to read my book and enjoy it’: Nathan Hill talks to Jennifer Malec about his bestselling debut novel The Nix

Jennifer Malec sat down with Nathan Hill in Cape Town during the Open Book Festival recently to talk about his…

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Awards

[The JRB Daily] George Saunders wins the 2017 Man Booker Prize for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo

October 17, 2017October 17, 2017Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] George Saunders wins the 2017 Man Booker Prize for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo

American author George Saunders has won the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo. Saunders…

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Essays

A stranger in ‘the Village’: Bongani Madondo remembers the magic of The Village Voice in print

October 2, 2017April 7, 2020Bongani Madondo3 Comments on A stranger in ‘the Village’: Bongani Madondo remembers the magic of The Village Voice in print

When New York’s pout-fully punk weekly, The Village Voice, announced the end of its print issue last month, Gotham City…

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Africa

Brilliant, hilarious, eerily contemporary: Mbali Sikakana reflects on Fran Ross’s forgotten black feminist novel Oreo

October 2, 2017December 5, 2017Mbali Sikakana2 Comments on Brilliant, hilarious, eerily contemporary: Mbali Sikakana reflects on Fran Ross’s forgotten black feminist novel Oreo

Fran Ross’s wildly funny race satire, Oreo, was originally published in 1974, and instantly forgotten. Mbali Sikakana surveys the novel’s…

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International

[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Rafique Gangat and Aja Monet by Victor Dlamini

October 2, 2017November 5, 2017Victor DlaminiLeave a Comment on [Photo Editor] Original portraits of Rafique Gangat and Aja Monet by Victor Dlamini

Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Don’t miss the ten-year retrospective…

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Awards

[The JRB Daily] 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist announced

September 13, 2017July 24, 2018Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced, with six books described as ‘playful, sincere,…

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Fiction

‘With any luck people will be reading The Sellout fifty years from now’ – an interview with Man Booker Prize-winning author Paul Beatty

September 4, 2017May 10, 2018Simon van SchalkwykLeave a Comment on ‘With any luck people will be reading The Sellout fifty years from now’ – an interview with Man Booker Prize-winning author Paul Beatty

The JRB Academic Editor Simon van Schalkwyk spoke to Paul Beatty, whose novel The Sellout won the 2016 Man Booker…

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Africa

James Baldwin in Rhodesia: Percy Zvomuya picks out a thread from the forgotten war book Black Fire!

September 4, 2017September 4, 2017Percy Zvomuya6 Comments on James Baldwin in Rhodesia: Percy Zvomuya picks out a thread from the forgotten war book Black Fire!

In the late nineteen-seventies, James Baldwin encountered an ‘extraordinary and illuminating’ Rhodesian book, which influenced his thought around black rage…

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Fiction

Listen to Paul Beatty read from The Sellout

September 4, 2017September 18, 2017Ben WilliamsLeave a Comment on Listen to Paul Beatty read from The Sellout

The Sellout Paul Beatty One World 2015 The JRB recorded this reading by Paul Beatty during his recent visit to…

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Africa

A shared secondhand experience of South Africa: Mbali Sikakana reviews Zinzi Clemmons’s What We Lose

August 7, 2017Mbali SikakanaLeave a Comment on A shared secondhand experience of South Africa: Mbali Sikakana reviews Zinzi Clemmons’s What We Lose

What We Lose Zinzi Clemmons Fourth Estate, 2017   Memory itself is an internal rumour —George Santayana But most of…

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Fiction

The book that was read around the world: Masande Ntshanga chats about the many versions of his debut novel, The Reactive

August 7, 2017Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on The book that was read around the world: Masande Ntshanga chats about the many versions of his debut novel, The Reactive

Masande Ntshanga’s debut novel, The Reactive, came out from Umuzi in 2014. Since then, it has won international publishing contracts…

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Africa

[The JRB Daily] 2017 Man Booker Prize longlist announced—no African authors make the cut

July 27, 2017July 24, 2019Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] 2017 Man Booker Prize longlist announced—no African authors make the cut

The longlist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced. The prize, worth £50,000, was first awarded…

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Academic

Finding beauty under apartheid: Interview with Dan Magaziner, and excerpt from his book The Art of Life in South Africa

July 3, 2017January 12, 2018Jennifer Malec1 Comment on Finding beauty under apartheid: Interview with Dan Magaziner, and excerpt from his book The Art of Life in South Africa

The Art of Life in South Africa Dan Magaziner UKZN Press, 2017 Main image: Ndaleni group shot, late 1970s, Ndaleni…

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Awards

[The JRB Daily] Rabih Alameddine wins Lambda Literary Award for his novel The Angel of History

June 15, 2017June 15, 2017Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] Rabih Alameddine wins Lambda Literary Award for his novel The Angel of History

Lambda Literary, an organisation advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) literature, has announced the winners of the 29th Annual…

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Awards

[The JRB Daily] Israeli author David Grossman wins Man Booker International Prize for A Horse Walks Into a Bar

June 15, 2017Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on [The JRB Daily] Israeli author David Grossman wins Man Booker International Prize for A Horse Walks Into a Bar

Bestselling Israeli writer David Grossman has won the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his ‘ambitious high-wire act of a…

Here we Art Maboneng
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Africa

The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 1, Issue 2 (June 2017)

June 5, 2017January 22, 2018Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on The Johannesburg Review of Books Vol. 1, Issue 2 (June 2017)

The second issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books is here—replete with some of the finest writing on books and…

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Awards

‘Writing is sometimes like a thread that weaves all our hearts into one’: Lidudumalingani reflects on his Caine Prize visit to the United States

June 5, 2017June 7, 2017LidudumalinganiLeave a Comment on ‘Writing is sometimes like a thread that weaves all our hearts into one’: Lidudumalingani reflects on his Caine Prize visit to the United States

Lidudumalingani won the 2016 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story ‘Memories We Lost’. As part of the…

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International

‘You’re not a rejection machine, you’re a search engine’, or, the art of the literary review: A conversation with Philip Gourevitch

May 1, 2017May 4, 2017The JRB1 Comment on ‘You’re not a rejection machine, you’re a search engine’, or, the art of the literary review: A conversation with Philip Gourevitch

The Paris Review Interviews, a series of conversations with great writers on their art ranging from the 1950s to the…

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Fiction

The anthology we have been waiting for: Panashe Chigumadzi reviews Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins

May 1, 2017May 1, 2017Panashe ChigumadziLeave a Comment on The anthology we have been waiting for: Panashe Chigumadzi reviews Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? Kathleen Collins Granta 2017 Black women as you have never seen them before, on screen…

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Africa

All you need is luck: Jennifer Malec reviews Zadie Smith’s Swing Time and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers

May 1, 2017Jennifer MalecLeave a Comment on All you need is luck: Jennifer Malec reviews Zadie Smith’s Swing Time and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers

Swing Time Zadie Smith Penguin Books 2016 Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue HarperCollins 2017 1. Zadie Smith’s new novel, Swing…

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International

Facing up to a techno-feudal world: Richard Poplak reviews Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

May 1, 2017May 2, 2017Richard PoplakLeave a Comment on Facing up to a techno-feudal world: Richard Poplak reviews Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future Martin Ford Oneworld 2016 The robots are coming….

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