The Johannesburg Review of Books

12/08/2024

Call for applications for the 2024 Achmat Dangor Literary Prize, an award dedicated to nurturing young, previously disadvantaged writers working in all genres:

Applications for the 2024 Achmat Dangor Literary Prize, an award dedicated to nurturing young, previously disadvantaged writers working in all genres, are open. The prestigious prize provides financial support to pursue an MA in Creative Writing at Wits University, ensuring that the enduring lega

31/07/2024

Caine Prize reveals 2024 shortlist, and plans to ‘re-centre the announcement on the African continent’:

The shortlist for the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing, awarded annually for a short story by an African writer published in English, has been announced. The winner of the prize receives £10,000 (about R234,000), and each shortlisted writer £500. The five shortlisted stories were selected

30/07/2024

‘Global voices, strong voices and new voices.’

The 2024 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, including American born British–Libyan writer Hisham Matar:

The 2024 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, featuring 'blackly comic page-turners, multigenerational epics, meditations on the pain of exile—plus a crime caper, a spy thriller, an unflinching account of girls’ boxing and a reimagining of a nineteenth-century classic', according to the pri...

11/07/2024

The winner of the 2024 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award will be announced at this evening!

The digital event will take place at 18:00 SAST. Those interested can register here: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/dinaanewinnerannouncement

20/06/2024

Continuities between Tswana worlds and Black world politics—find out more about Uhuru Portia Phalafala's new book Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement:

The JRB presents an excerpt from Uhuru Portia Phalafala's new book, Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement. Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts MovementUhuru Portia PhalafalaWits University Press, 2024 Introduction: Elsewhere African cultures and cosmolo­gies can provide

20/06/2024

The JRB presents an excerpt from Dayspring, the forthcoming memoir by CJ Driver, edited and with a foreword by Nobel Prize-winning author JM Coetzee. Out in South Africa on 1 July 2024.

The JRB presents an excerpt from Dayspring, the forthcoming memoir by CJ Driver, edited and with a foreword by Nobel Prize-winning author JM Coetzee. Out in South Africa on 1 July 2024. Dayspring CJ Driver (Edited by JM Coetzee)Karavan Press and uHlanga Press I had given up residence in Sm

13/06/2024

The JRB presents an excerpt from Masande Ntshanga’s essay ‘Technologies of Conquest: On Writing the Dystopian through South Africa’s Past, Present and Possible Future(s)’, from the newly published The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making and Meaning.

The JRB presents an excerpt from Masande Ntshanga’s essay 'Technologies of Conquest: On Writing the Dystopian through South Africa’s Past, Present and Possible Future(s)', from the newly published The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making and Meaning. The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making and

13/06/2024

Hear Something,

In the Forest.

Of Being,

There.

Where You Belong.

With.

Me.

The JRB presents five poems by Daniel Moss.

The JRB presents five poems by Daniel Moss. Who Wants. To Go On. A Drive? I Would. For a While. Wake Up Super. Early. With Some Coffee Still. Time for a Dart. Dreams. Of Africa. Man. Baby. Nearly Twenty, Years. Ago. I took A Gander. Cairo.

13/06/2024

In our latest issue, Lebohang Mojapelo talks to Pontsho Pilane about her new book, Power and Faith: How Evangelical Churches are Quietly Shaping Our Democracy:

Lebohang Mojapelo talks to Pontsho Pilane about her new book, Power and Faith: How Evangelical Churches are Quietly Shaping Our Democracy. Power and Faith: How Evangelical Churches are Quietly Shaping Our DemocracyPontsho PilaneTafelberg, 2024 Lebohang Mojapelo for The JRB: Congratulations

13/06/2024

On identity, poetry, diaspora and Afropessimism—Kweku Abimbola in conversation with Sreddy Yen:

Gambia-born poet Kweku Abimbola, whose award-winning first collection of poetry Saltwater Demands a Psalm was published by Graywolf Press in 2023, joined Sreddy Yen for an instalment of 'Race from Africa', a series of Instagram Lives that thinks alongside academic and often United States-centric the

12/06/2024

Niq Mhlongo chats to JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about his new novel, The City is Mine, and the changes he’s seen in the publishing industry since his debut was published twenty years ago:

Niq Mhlongo chats to JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about his new novel, The City is Mine, and the changes he's seen in the publishing industry since his first novel was published twenty years ago. The City is MineNiq MhlongoKwela Books, 2024 Jennifer Malec for The JRB: Niq, congratulations on

12/06/2024

Percy Zvomuya reviews Mary E Ndlovu’s memoir, An Outsider Within: A Memoir of Love, of Loss, of Perseverance:

Percy Zvomuya reviews Mary E Ndlovu's memoir, An Outsider Within: A Memoir of Love, of Loss, of Perseverance. An Outsider Within: A Memoir of Love, of Loss, of Perseverance Mary E NdlovuWeaver Press, 2024 The Canadian educator and historian Mary E Ndlovu spent fifty years in Africa. She ar

12/06/2024

‘An open-hearted refusal of the atomised world.’

Wamuwi Mbao reviews Hedley Twidle’s new collection of essays, Show Me the Place:

In Show Me the Place, Hedley Twidle displays an earnest curiosity about how to inhabit a world that seems to tend ever more towards the incurious, writes Wamuwi Mbao. Show Me the PlaceHedley TwidleJonathan Ball Publishers, 2024 There’s a template for writing about essays, isn’t there? You

12/06/2024

‘A welcome addition to the growing list of literature centring q***r lives in Africa.’

Shayera Dark reviews Musih Tedji Xaviere’s debut novel These Letters End in Tears:

As a novel centred on le***an love set in an intensely homophobic country, These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere is frustratingly pessimistic, but it is also abundantly joyful, writes Shayera Dark. These Letters End in TearsMusih Tedji XaviereJacaranda Books, 2024 Set in Camero

12/06/2024

‘Before I even believed in myself, women writers older than me held my hand.’

Busisiwe Mahlangu in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba:

This is the sixth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB, which focus on contemporary collections by Black women and non-binary poets. The first, with Maneo Refiloe Mohale, can be found here; the second, with Katleho Kano Shoro, here; the third, with S

11/06/2024

The new issue of The Johannesburg Review of Books is here!

Featuring: Makhosazana Xaba • Busisiwe Mahlangu • Shayera Dark • Percy Zvomuya • Wamuwi Mbao • Jennifer Malec • Niq Mhlongo • Lebohang Mojapelo • Pontsho Pilane • Sreddy Yen • Kweku Abimbola • Daniel Moss • Masande Ntshanga • CJ Driver • Uhuru Portia Phalafala • Achille Mbembe • Louis Timagène Houat • Barbara Boswell • Nthikeng Mohlele • Tlotlo Tsamaase • Victor Dlamini

Read on:

Makhosazana Xaba • Busisiwe Mahlangu • Shayera Dark • Percy Zvomuya • Wamuwi Mbao • Jennifer Malec • Lebohang Mojapelo • Pontsho Pilane • Sreddy Yen • Kweku Abimbola • Daniel Moss • Masande Ntshanga • CJ Driver • Uhuru Portia Phalafala • Achille Mbembe • Louis Timagène...

11/06/2024

We've updated our cover image; our new issue will be out in a matter of minutes. Want it first? Subscribe here (always free!): http://bit.ly/thejrbsubscribe

11/06/2024

Lit lovers, it's that time: another issue of The JRB lies just around the bend. The slow train is leaving the station; it will arrive later today. Want it first, right in your inbox? Subscribe (always free) 📚⤵️

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22/05/2024

‘Both beautiful and uncomfortable, personal and political ...’

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, wins 2024 International Booker Prize:

Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, translated by Michael Hofmann, has been announced as the winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize. Kairos is described as ‘an intimate and devastating story of the path of two lovers through the ruins of a relationship, set against the backdrop of a seismic p...

14/03/2024

‘Other people’s lives. They are not terms in our logic, they are not symbols, they are not to be collected.’

Read an exclusive excerpt from Teju Cole’s new novel Tremor:

The JRB presents an excerpt from Tremor, the new novel from Teju Cole. TremorTeju ColeFaber and Faber How is one to live without owning others? Who is this world for? White people taught us that the world could be dominated by means of religion and warfare, collected for the sake of pleasu

14/03/2024

‘... I still take my bearings from the inner city and Hillbrow; they still lie at the heart of my proprioceptive city.’

Read an exclusive excerpt from Ivan Vladislavić’s new book The Near North:

The JRB presents an exclusive excerpt from The Near North, the new book by Ivan Vladislavić, which will be published in March. The Near NorthIvan VladislavićPicador Africa, 2024 In my last years in Troyeville, I stopped going to the old city centre and Hillbrow. I grew used to driving nor

11/03/2024

‘The world seems to end many times for Black people ...’

Kim M Reynolds considers the historical and the personal in Uhuru Portia Phalafala’s new book Mine Mine Mine, in discussion with the author:

Kim M Reynolds considers the historical and the personal in Uhuru Portia Phalafala's new book Mine Mine Mine, in discussion with the author. Mine Mine Mine Uhuru Portia Phalafala University of Nebraska Press, 2023 ‘... in guaranteed poverty while unearthing wealth’ Uhuru Portia Phalafal

11/03/2024

‘I don’t want to tell my reader what to feel; I want to make them feel.’

Tan Twan Eng chats to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about his new novel The House of Doors:

Tan Twan Eng's third novel, The House of Doors, was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and has just been longlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. He chats to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about writing, rewriting, and reverse-engineering. Tan Twan EngThe House of Doors

08/03/2024

The JRB is saddened to learn of the passing of Henry Chakava, 'the father of Kenyan publishing'. To get a sense of his vitality and legacy, listen to our Photo Editor Victor Dlamini's conversation with him, recorded several years ago.

An interview with publisher Henry Chakava

01/03/2024

‘Poetry refuses the abstraction of theory.’

danai mupotsa in conversation with Makhosazana Xaba:

This is the fifth in a series of long-form interviews by Patron Makhosazana Xaba to be hosted on The JRB, which focus on contemporary collections by Black women and non-binary poets. The first, with Maneo Refiloe Mohale, can be found here; the second, with Katleho Kano Shoro, here; the third, with S

01/03/2024

Sanya Osha pays tribute to the late Jimi Solanke, and chats to Oluwatoyin Sutton about her book Jimi Solanke: The Indestructible:

Sanya Osha pays tribute to the late Jimi Solanke, and chats to Oluwatoyin Sutton about her book Jimi Solanke: The Indestructible. Jimi Solanke: The IndestructibleOluwatoyin SuttonBookcraft Africa, 2023 Jimi Solanke’s artistic practice evolved in the decade following Nigeria’s political ind

01/03/2024

JM Coetzee’s late style has often been indifferently received, but The Pole is a beautifully elegant story, writes Wamuwi Mbao, in a review that might count as being ‘in conversation’ with its contemporaries:

JM Coetzee’s late style has often been indifferently received, but The Pole and Other Stories is a beautifully elegant story, writes Wamuwi Mbao, in a review that might count as being 'in conversation' with its contemporaries. The Pole and Other StoriesJM CoetzeePenguin Random House SA, 2023

29/02/2024

The Johannesburg Review of Books 2024 Conversation Issue is here!

Makhosazana Xaba • Wamuwi Mbao • Danai Mupotsa • Sanya Osha • Tan Twan Eng • Jennifer Malec • Uhuru Portia Phalafala • Kim M Reynolds • Kelwyn Sole • Margie Orford • Ivan Vladislavić • Haidar Eid • Teju Cole • Njabulo S Ndebele • Victor Dlamini • Tymon Smith

Makhosazana Xaba • Wamuwi Mbao • Danai Mupotsa • Sanya Osha • Tan Twan Eng • Jennifer Malec • Uhuru Portia Phalafala • Kim M Reynolds • Kelwyn Sole • Margie Orford • Ivan Vladislavić • Haidar Eid • Teju Cole • Njabulo S Ndebele • Victor Dlamini • Tymon Smith Welcome to...

29/02/2024

We've updated our cover image, and The Johannesburg Review of Books 2024 Conversation Issue is on its way!