‘Many murky fixations bob to the surface’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Dominique Botha’s The Crying Bride & Other Hallucinations
Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Crying Bride & Other Hallucinations by Dominique Botha, a keenly alive collection from the new Painted…
Category: Non-fiction
‘I remember him as an enthusiastic student, with a terrible stutter’—Percy Zvomuya conducts a final interview with Anthony Chennells (1937—2026, RIP) on Marechera, Mungoshi, Lessing and more
Percy Zvomuya visits his former teacher, the critic Anthony Chennells, at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, to talk about the…
‘A revisitation-cum-commemoration’—Makhosazana Xaba on ten years of Percy Mabandu’s Yakhal’inkomo: Portrait of a Jazz Classic
Makhosazana Xaba revisits Percy Mabandu’s Yakhal’inkomo: Portrait of a Jazz Classic ten years after its publication, and the many artists…
Notes on Translating Marechera—Musaemura Zimunya expands on the songs and allusions in The House of Hunger for a new Brazilian edition
When the publisher of a new Brazilian edition of Dambudzo Marechera’s The House of Hunger needed help with the book’s…
‘Race and history are essential twins’—Read an excerpt from Corinne A. Kratz’s award-winning book, Rhetorics of Value
The JRB presents an excerpt from Rhetorics of Value: Exhibition Design and Communication in Museums and Beyond by Corinne A….
‘Mankunku was in no way copying Coltrane. He was inheriting the tradition’—Percy Mabandu talks to Makhosazana Xaba about Yakhal’inkomo: Portrait of a Jazz Classic, ten years later
Makhosazana Xaba talks to Percy Mabandu about the tenth anniversary of his book Yakhal’inkomo: Portrait of a Jazz Classic, Winston…
‘He surprised them when he didn’t immediately take the Tambo–Huddleston–Gwangwa position [on Graceland]’—Read an excerpt from Zakes Mda’s new biography of Chris Hani
The JRB presents an excerpt from Chris Hani: A Life of Courage and Compassion, the new authorised biography by Zakes…
‘As soon as he saw me, I was the one for him’—Read an excerpt from Martha Evans’s new biography of Lilian Ngoyi
The JRB presents an excerpt from Lilian Ngoyi: A Life, the new biography by Martha Evans. Lilian Ngoyi: A LifeMartha…
‘There are many other things for which he deserves to be remembered’—Read an excerpt from Brian Willan and Brown Maaba’s new biography, Isaiah Bud-M’belle: The Life of Isaiah Budlwana M’belle, 1870–1947
The JRB presents an excerpt from Isaiah Bud-M’belle: The Life of Isaiah Budlwana M’belle, 1870–1947, the new biography by Brian…
‘No one appears to have truly known him’—Read an excerpt from Original Apartheid Hustler: The fiction and fabrications of Dugmore Boetie by Benjamin N. Lawrance and Vusumuzi R. Kumalo
The JRB presents an excerpt from Original Apartheid Hustler: The fiction and fabrications of Dugmore Boetie, the new biography by…
Can we engage with power without being corrupted by it? Sean Jacobs reviews Mahmood Mamdani’s new book, Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State
Sean Jacobs reviews Slow Poison by Mahmood Mamdani, a rich and textured account of Ugandan and postcolonial African politics, and…
From Douala to Yaounde, a philosophical journey—Sanya Osha encounters the contradictions fueling Cameroon’s fertile intellectual culture
Cameroon is both exceptional and inexplicable. Like much of Africa, it suffered horrendous colonial afflictions and atrocities, yet its heart…
Poetic translation and transnational Cold War cultural exchange—read an excerpt from Simon van Schalkwyk’s new book Robert Lowell’s Imitations and the Cold War
The JRB presents an excerpt from Robert Lowell’s Imitations and the Cold War: Containment, Leakage, Anarchy, the new book by…
‘His father was also a traveller, indeed a determined one’—Read an excerpt from Khumisho Moguerane’s Sunday Times Literary Award-winning biography Morafe
The JRB presents an excerpt from Morafe: Person, Family and Nation in Colonial Bechuanaland, 1880s–1950s by Khumisho Moguerane, winner of…
‘Violence would be part of Johannesburg’s lingua franca from the outset’—Read an excerpt from Deborah Posel’s personal journey through forgotten history, Darker Shade of Pale
The JRB presents an excerpt from Darker Shade of Pale: Shtetl to Colony by Deborah Posel. Darker Shade of Pale:…
‘Did you know that a head does bounce like a football?’ Read an excerpt from Shine Your Eye: In Search of West Africa by Adéwálé Májà-Pearce
The JRB presents an excerpt from Adéwálé Májà-Pearce’s forthcoming book Shine Your Eye: In Search of West Africa. Adéwálé Májà-PearceShine…
The impacts of women before, during and after coups—Read an excerpt from Blessing-Miles Tendi’s new book The Overthrow of Robert Mugabe: Gender, Coups, and Diplomats
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Overthrow of Robert Mugabe: Gender, Coups, and Diplomats by Blessing-Miles Tendi. The Overthrow…
A book that validates Andrée Blouin’s place in the pantheon of African revolutionaries—Shayera Dark reviews My Country, Africa
Shayera Dark reviews the newly published reissue of Andrée Blouin’s autobiography, My Country, Africa, a book that dazzles with insightful…
‘A superb, cleansing ending’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Antjie Krog’s autobiographical novel Blood’s Inner Rhyme
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Blood’s Inner Rhyme by Antjie Krog, a book preoccupied with a lifelong, struggling conversation between a mother…
‘An attempt to win back knowledge, even wisdom, from a world deluged by information’—Read an excerpt from The Interpreters: South Africa’s New Nonfiction
The JRB presents editor Hedley Twidle’s Introduction to The Interpreters: South Africa’s New Nonfiction. The Interpreters: South Africa’s New NonfictionEdited…
‘My ultimate overpacked beach bite has to be a pilchard sandwich’—Read an excerpt from Pravasan Pillay’s offbeat new food memoir Curry and Bread
The JRB presents an excerpt from Curry and Bread, Pravasan Pillay’s new memoir. Curry and BreadPravasan PillayDye Hard Press, 2025…
‘They built a roaring, roistering town, and called it Johannesburg’—Read ‘The City of Gold’, from The Early Writings of Alex La Guma
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Early Writings of Alex La Guma: Reflections on Cultcha, Identity and Freedom in…
Men’s livelihoods are only one aspect of what it means to make a life—Read an excerpt from Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins
The JRB presents an excerpt from Making a Life: Young Men on Johannesburg’s Urban Margins by Hannah J Dawson. Making…
Does South Africa have a problem with occult crime? Read an excerpt from The Devil Made Me Do It by Nicky Falkof
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Devil Made Me Do It: Understanding Occult Crime in South Africa by Nicky…
Joburg’s biggest river, and its most charismatic (for better or worse)—Read an excerpt from Johannesburg from the Riverbanks: Navigating the Jukskei
The JRB presents an excerpt from Johannesburg from the Riverbanks: Navigating the Jukskei, edited by Mehita Iqani and Renugan Raidoo….
‘They say there is a bad spirit here.’—Read an excerpt from The Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a Port City by Tanya Zack
The JRB presents an excerpt from Tanya Zack’s new book The Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a Port City. The Chaos…
A profoundly beautiful exploration of what ageing means for those who lived in compact with racial separation—Wamuwi Mbao reviews God’s Waiting Room by Casey Golomski
What does it mean to want grace after such a thing as apartheid? What might it look like? God’s Waiting…
Omar Badsha: an ordinary South African whose struggles and triumphs offer insights into broader social movements—Sean Jacobs reviews Available Light by Daniel Magaziner
Available Light continues Daniel Magaziner’s significant work in shedding light on the lives of Black artists and intellectuals under apartheid,…
Read William Kentridge’s essay ‘It Will Always Be You’, excerpted from Your History with Me: The Films of Penny Siopis, edited by Sarah Nuttall
The JRB presents an excerpt from Your History with Me: The Films of Penny Siopis, edited by Sarah Nuttall. Your…
‘They began to see that science was not isolated from politics but shaped by it’—Read an excerpt from Our Science, Ourselves by Christa Kuljian
The JRB presents an excerpt from Christa Kuljian’s new book, Our Science, Ourselves: How Gender, Race, and Social Movements Shaped…
What would Fanon say? Read the Preface to Frantz Fanon: Combat Breathing by Nigel C Gibson
The JRB presents an excerpt from Nigel C Gibson’s new book, Frantz Fanon: Combat Breathing. Frantz Fanon: Combat BreathingNigel C…
‘Africans are free only to the extent of breathing’—Read an excerpt from An Ethos of Transdisciplinarity: Conversations with Toyin Falola by Sanya Osha
The JRB presents an excerpt from Sanya Osha’s latest book An Ethos of Transdisciplinarity: Conversations with Toyin Falola. An Ethos…
Read ‘The Complexities of Intimacy for Black Middle-Class Women’, excerpted from Love in Jozi: The Black Middle Class, Love and Intimacy in Johannesburg
The JRB presents an excerpt from Love in Jozi: The Black Middle Class, Love and Intimacy in Johannesburg, edited by…
‘The self-publishing world is shaking off its stigmas and evolving’—Read an excerpt from the African Small Publishers Catalogue
The 2024 African Small Publishers Catalogue has been released by Modjaji Books. Read Jessie Cooper’s essay ‘Self-publishing: A Real Choice for…
Taking Guard in Inner-city Johannesburg—Read an excerpt from Niren Tolsi’s new book Writing Around the Wicket: Race, Class and History in South African Cricket
The JRB presents an excerpt from Writing Around the Wicket: Race, Class and History in South African Cricket by Niren…
‘In Africa, the conservative realism of the military mind met the liberatory spirit of the decolonising mind’—Read an excerpt from Soldier’s Paradise by Samuel Fury Childs Daly
The JRB presents an excerpt from Samuel Fury Childs Daly’s new book, Soldier’s Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire. Soldier′s…
One Hundred Years of Book Covers—Read an excerpt from Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press
The JRB presents an excerpt from Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press. The book is available…
‘Ngangizwa kahle ukuthi ukuhumusha kuyangikhulisa, kungisabalalisela ingqondo’—Makhosazana Xaba chats to Musawenkosi Cabe about her isiZulu translation of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth
Udliwano ndlebe mayelana nokuhushushwa kwengcwadi ka Frantz Fanon, Izimpabanga Zomhlaba, phakathi komhumushi uMakhosazana Xaba no Musawenkosi Cabe. This is a…
Ethiopia’s violence in focus—Percy Zvomuya reads regional conflict through the lens of the Tigray War
Percy Zvomuya draws on Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan’s valuable new book Understanding Ethiopia’s Tigray War in a reading of…
View an excerpt of images from Zanele Muholi’s new book Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Vol. II
The JRB presents an excerpt from Zanele Muholi’s new book Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Vol. II. Somnyama Ngonyama,…