[Fiction Issue] ‘I would be dead if not for books’—Read an excerpt from Hemley Boum’s prize-winning novel Days Come and Go
The JRB presents an excerpt from Days Come and Go by Hemley Boum, now available in English. Days Come and…
Category: Translation
‘I danced a saraband with my parents. Their love dissolved my old fear’—Read an excerpt from Abdourahman A Waberi’s award-winning novel Why Do You Dance When You Walk
The JRB presents an excerpt from Why Do You Dance When You Walk by Djiboutian novelist Abdourahman A Waberi, winner…
‘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] ‘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] ‘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] 2022 Humanities and Social Sciences Awards winners announced—‘casting a celebratory light on those whose work often goes unnoticed’
Image: The 2022 HSS Awards winners. Back, from left: Aryan Kaganof, Natalia Molebatsi, Napjadi Letsoalo, Thulasizwe Simpson, Nthikeng Mohlele, Mandla…
[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 village is cursed. Don’t ever come back here.’—Read an excerpt from Véronique Tadjo’s In the Company of Men
The JRB presents an excerpt from In the Company of Men by Véronique Tadjo, out now in a new edition….
‘If there had been any kings in Rwanda, it was better to forget them’—Read an excerpt from Scholastique Mukasonga’s Our Lady of the Nile
The JRB presents an excerpt from Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga, out now in a new edition….
[JRB Daily] ‘A transformative figure in African literature’—Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wins PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has been announced as one of the winners of this year’s PEN America Literary Awards. Ngũgĩ was…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 South African Literary Awards winners announced
The winners of the 2021 South African Literary Awards have been announced. The winning writers were announced in a virtual…
Read an excerpt from ‘The Lumumba Business’, a new story by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, from The American Way: Stories of Invasion
The JRB presents an excerpt from the forthcoming publication The American Way: Stories of Invasion. The American Way: Stories of…
[The JRB Daily] 2021 South African Literary Awards shortlists revealed
The shortlists for the 2021 South African Literary Awards have been announced. Now in their sixteenth year, the SALAs are…
A flaming dispatch from Ananda Devi’s ‘evil twin’—Yagnishsing Dawoor reviews When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me
Ananda Devi’s When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me is an impassioned investigation of poetry writing as an apparatus…
‘Temporary madness, in war, is bravery’s sister’—Read an excerpt from David Diop’s International Booker Prize-winning novel At Night All Blood Is Black
The JRB presents an excerpt from At Night All Blood Is Black, recent winner of the International Booker Prize. At…
[The JRB Daily] ‘It had jangled our emotions and blown our minds’—David Diop and Anna Moschovakis win the 2021 International Booker Prize for At Night All Blood is Black
Image: International Booker Prize At Night All Blood is Black, written by Senegalese–French author David Diop and translated by American…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Urgent, energetic and wildly original’—2021 International Booker Prize shortlist announced
The six novels shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize have been revealed. The International Booker Prize celebrates ‘the finest…
[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…
[Fiction Issue] ‘That’s how evenings in Nawa went.’—Read an excerpt from The Ardent Swarm, the English debut from award-winning author Yamen Manai
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Ardent Swarm, the third novel from award-winning Tunisian author Yamen Manai, but the…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Short Story Day Africa Prize ‘Disruption’ longlist announced—featuring 21 African writers from nine countries
This longlist for the seventh annual Short Story Day Africa Prize has been announced! The prize was founded in 2013,…
[Temporary Sojourner] The Beast in the Village—Efemia Chela reviews Confessions of a Lioness by Mia Couto, finding uncanny echoes of the coronavirus lockdown
The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Mozambique with Mia Couto’s novel Confessions of a Lioness. Confessions…
[The JRB Daily] ‘I am as proud as a cow with seven udders!’ Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and Michele Hutchison win the 2020 International Booker Prize for The Discomfort of Evening
The Discomfort of Evening, written by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison, has been announced…
‘Black people are not asking to be loved beyond reason’—Hemley Boum reflects on the Black Lives Matter protests during the coronavirus lockdown
It happens that words become too inconsistent to communicate shock. Not that we can’t guess at the terrifying explosion, whose…
[Exclusive] Read an excerpt from Sex and Lies, the first work of non-fiction in English from award-winning Moroccan author Leïla Slimani
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from Leïla Slimani’s new book Sex and Lies. Sex and LiesLeïla Slimani (translated by…
[The JRB Daily] Youssouf Amine Elalamy wins 2020 Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique—a prize that celebrates French writing by African writers and publishers
Moroccan author Youssouf Amine Elalamy has won the second annual Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique, for his novel C’est…
[Sampler issue] Read an exclusive excerpt from Alain Mabanckou’s new novel The Death of Comrade President, a tale of family and revolution in postcolonial Congo
The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Death of Comrade President, the new novel from Alain Mabanckou. The Death…
[Sampler issue] ‘The last moments before the downfall of any dictator are all surprisingly similar’—Read an excerpt from The Dictatorship Syndrome by Alaa Al Aswany
The JRB presents an excerpt from The Dictatorship Syndrome by noted author Alaa Al Aswany. Alaa Aswany first and foremost…
‘Greed—the Poem as Deadly Sin’, a new poem by Andries Bezuidenhout
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a new poem by Andries Bezuidenhout. ~~~ Greed—the Poem as Deadly Sin If it…
‘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…
‘We are African writers, we write as Africans and we share our books as Africans’—The tiny island of Mayotte has big plans for books, reports James Murua
The JRB Editorial Advisory Panel member James Murua reports back from his trip to the Salon du Livre de Mayotte, which took place…
‘I experience a new type of fear every time I write’—Lebohang Mojapelo interviews exiled Sudanese author Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin
Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin is a bestselling, award-winning writer originally from Kassala in eastern Sudan, but currently based in Austria, where…
‘you step’, a poem by Gratiagusti Chananya Rompas, translated by Mikael Johani
The Johannesburg Review of Books presents a poem by Gratiagusti Chananya Rompas, translated by Mikael Johani. you step on the…
[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…
A perfectly shaped raging fire of language and emotion—Lidudumalingani reviews Everything is a Deathly Flower, the debut poetry collection by Maneo Mohale
Lidudumalingani reviews Everything is a Deathly Flower by Maneo Mohale, finding it to be a succession of powerful moments. Everything…
‘I have turned my car into a mobile bookshop’—Siphiwo Mahala chats to Jennifer Malec about self-publishing his new book, Red Apple Dreams, and why short stories are the future
The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec chats to Siphiwo Mahala about his new collection of short stories, Red Apple Dreams. Mahala…
Voices from the continent with the world’s youngest population—Water Birds on the Lake Shore: An Anthology of African Young Adult Fiction (Plus: Read 3 of the stories)
Exclusive to The JRB, we present three new short stories from the Goethe-Institut Afro Young Adult anthology, Water Birds on…
‘Among the most gifted writers currently at work’—Patrick Flanery reviews The Troubled Times of Magrieta Prinsloo by Ingrid Winterbach
The Troubled Times of Magrieta Prinsloo by Ingrid Winterbach offers us one of the most chilling and fearless portraits of…
‘Not your traditional immigrant novel’—Efemia Chela reviews Beyond Babylon, the newly translated English debut by Somali–Italian author Igiaba Scego
In Beyond Babylon, by Igiaba Scego, migrants come to rebuild their lives in the midst of ruins, writes Francophone and…
[The JRB Daily] English Academy of Southern Africa Awards winners announced
The full list of winners of the English Academy of Southern Africa Awards for writing have been announced. In addition…
An exhilarating elegy for the slaves and storytellers of old—Lara Buxbaum reviews Patrick Chamoiseau’s wildly inventive novel The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Tracing the memory of bones, ‘a long thread of words that attempted to fulfil the universe’—Lara Buxbaum reviews The Old…