New poetry by Robin Moger—Two versions of ‘Poem Six’ from The Interpreter of Desires by Ibn Arabi
The following two translations are responses to the sixth poem in The Interpreter of Desires, a cycle of sixty-one poems…
Category: Translation
Nigerian writer Elnathan John wins 2019 Prix Les Afriques for the French translation of his novel Born on a Tuesday
Nigerian novelist Elnathan John and his French translator Céline Schwaller have been awarded the Prix Les Afriques for Né un…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela travels to Sudan with Rania Mamoun’s newly translated collection of short stories, Thirteen Months of Sunrise
The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Sudan with Rania Mamoun’s debut collection of short stories, Thirteen Months of Sunrise,…
[The JRB Daily] Jokha Alharthi and Marilyn Booth win the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for Celestial Bodies
Celestial Bodies by Omani novelist Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, has been announced as the winner of the 2019…
[The JRB Daily] Commonwealth Short Story Prize announces all-women shortlist of regional winners—Africa’s winner is Zambian writer Mbozi Haimbe
The regional winners of the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been announced: five stories that ‘tackle big issues’ with ‘a…
Rough honesty, ample sex and ripe desire—Efemia Chela reads Leïla Slimani’s Adèle, Ariana Harwicz’s Die, My Love and Melissa Broder’s The Pisces
The JRB Contributing Editor Efemia Chela reads Adèle, Die, My Love and The Pisces, three stirring psychological novels, kindred portraits of contemporary womanhood….
[City Editor] Finding out you’re big in Myanmar—and a caution on the potential effects of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill
City Editor Niq Mhlongo finds a cautionary tale in an interaction with one of his (heretofore unknown) international publishers. In…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists announced
The longlists for the 2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been revealed! The duo of awards—the Alan Paton Award for…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced, including writers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia
The shortlist for the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been announced. South African writer Alex Latimer and South Africa-based…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Man Booker International Prize shortlist announced—an all-female list of translators, alongside five female authors
The shortlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize, celebrating the ‘finest works of translated fiction from around the world’, has…
New short fiction: ‘Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!’ by A Bouna Guazong, excerpted from Of Passion and Ink: New Voices from Cameroon
The JRB presents an excerpt from Of Passion and Ink: New Voices from Cameroon, a collection of short stories forthcoming…
Read an excerpt from Athena Farrokhzad’s award-winning poetry collection White Blight
The JRB presents excerpts from White Blight by Swedish poet Athena Farrokhzad, translated by Jennifer Hayashida. White Blight is published…
English translation published of Yolande Mukagasana’s personal testimony of the Rwandan Genocide, Not My Time To Die
Kigali-based Huza Press has just released the English translation of Yolande Mukagasana’s Not My Time To Die, translated by Zoe Norridge….
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Man Booker International Prize longlist announced—women and independent publishers dominate
The longlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize has been announced. Thirteen novels are in contention for the prize,…
‘I avoid filling up my belly to feel less guilty’—Read newly translated poetry by Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Asymptote Journal runs the Close Approximations Translation Contest yearly, and this year an excellent translation of Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s poetry…
‘I write in French to tell the French that I am not French’—Algerian Francophone poetry featured in Words Without Borders
In the January 2019 issue of Words Without Borders, translator and poet Marilyn Hacker discusses the fascinating resistance history of…
[Fiction issue] ‘The Story of My Cousin’ by Koos Prinsloo, newly translated by Michiel Heyns
In The JRB Fiction Issue this year, we are delighted to feature two short stories by Koos Prinsloo, published for…
[Fiction issue] ‘The Story of My Father’ by Koos Prinsloo, newly translated by Michiel Heyns
In The JRB Fiction Issue this year, we are delighted to feature two short stories by Koos Prinsloo, published for…
[The JRB Daily] [World Aids Day] Two Koos Prinsloo short stories translated into English for the first time—among the first fictional texts about HIV/Aids in South Africa
In The JRB’s forthcoming Fiction Issue, we will feature two short stories by Koos Prinsloo, published for the first time…
Read an excerpt from What Is Africa to Me? by Guadeloupean author Maryse Condé, winner of the ‘alternative Nobel’ literature prize
A giant of black feminist writing and thought, Maryse Condé was recently awarded the New Academy Prize in Literature, a…
Prix Femina and Prix Femina étranger longlists revealed—including Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Olga Tokarczuk
It’s awards season in the French-speaking literary world! A number of big prizes revealed their longlists in the month of…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 South African Literary Awards shortlists revealed—and new Poet Laureate to be announced
The 2018 South African Literary Awards shortlists have been announced, with nominees including Malebo Sephodi, Nick Mulgrew, Kelwyn Sole and…
A kaleidoscopic novel of radiant beauty—Bongani Kona reviews the new English translation of Ondjaki’s Transparent City
In Transparent City, Ondjaki writes Angola not as an insignificant place in the margins of history but as if it…
‘Kasala for Myself’—New jazz-suffused poetry from Fiston Mwanza Mujila featured in Asymptote, in English and French
In their Summer issue, Asymptote Journal features new poetry from Congolese author Fiston Mwanza Mujila. Eschewing the more chaotic and…
‘I have always been interested in hidden histories’—Harry Kalmer chats about his award-winning debut English novel, A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg
Harry Kalmer won the 2018 Barry Ronge Fiction Prize recently, for his novel A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg. He chatted to…
‘Dark history is good for literature’—Bongani Kona chats to Argentine author Mariana Enriquez about her English debut, Things We Lost in the Fire
Mariana Enríquez, a writer and editor based in Buenos Aires, will be at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town…
The over-intellectualisation of desire—Efemia Chela reviews Anne Garréta’s newly translated memoir Not One Day
The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela reviews Not One Day, Anne Garréta’s memoir and the second of her books to be…
[The JRB Daily] Harry Kalmer and Bongani Ngqulunga win Sunday Times Literary Awards
‘I dedicate this win to my mother and my father, who never went to school. It just shows what…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads Roland Rugero’s Baho!—the first Burundian novel to be translated into English
Ableism and the silent roar: The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Burundi with Roland Rugero’s novel Baho! in The…
‘The glutton ate the snail and it made his cheeks explode’: Read an excerpt from Baho! by Burundian author Roland Rugero
The JRB is proud to present an excerpt from Roland Rugero’s novel Baho!—the first Burundian novel to be translated from French…
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ’s novel Nairobi Heat is now available in French as Là où meurent les rêves
« Qu’est-ce que ça te fait à toi, l’homme noir d’Amérique, d’être au Kenya ? » Voilà une question qui taraude l’inspecteur Ishmael….
What we talk about when we talk about French: New words enter the 2019 Larousse and Le Robert
The French language is notoriously conservative. There is even a congregation of very serious people—l’Académie française—that decides how the language…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Man Booker International Prize shortlist announced
The shortlist for this year’s Man Booker International Prize has been announced. The Man Booker International celebrates the finest global…
The JRB Exclusive: Read an excerpt from An Eternity in Tangiers, a graphic novel that evokes the mental and physical limbo of migrancy, by Faustin Titi and Eyoum Nganguè
The JRB is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from the graphic novel An Eternity in Tangiers, by Ivorian illustrator…
[The JRB Daily] Man Booker International Prize longlist announced
The longlist has been revealed for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize. The Man Booker International celebrates the finest global…
Skin and the Arab Spring: Read an excerpt from Tunisian author Azza Filali’s Les Intranquilles
Words without Borders’s issue dedicated to Tunisian women writers got lost in the flurry of the end of 2017, with…
[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads The Ultimate Tragedy, the first novel from Guinea-Bissau ever to be translated into English
Efemia Chela travels to Guinea-Bissau with Abdulai Silá’s The Ultimate Tragedy in The JRB’s Temporary Sojourner series. The Ultimate Tragedy (A Última Tragédia)…
Snapshots of Death: Allegorical short fiction from Algerian writer Chawki Amari
Two men are talking in a smoke-filled room. On the carved table in the middle of the sitting room is…
Sea-shaken love from ‘The Cargo Hold of Stars’ by Mauritian poet Khal Torabully
« Et ta bouche est une syllabe mûre que seule l’empreinte des mots d’amour » Whether you have a valentine…
[Conversation Issue] Using language without restraint to show the energy of the ‘wretched of the earth’—Fiston Mwanza Mujila chats to Bongani Kona
As part of our January Conversation Issue, Bongani Kona interviews award-winning Congolese author Fiston Mwanza Mujila. Tram 83 Fiston Mwanza…