Jennifer Malec

Nov 12, 2024 | johannesburgreviewofbooks.com | Jennifer Malec

British author Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital. She receives £50,000 (about R1.15 million) prize money, and was presented with her trophy by Paul Lynch, last year’s winner, at a ceremony in London, UK. ‘I was not expecting that,’ Harvey said in her acceptance speech. ‘We were told that we weren’t allowed to swear in our speech, so there goes my speech. It was just one swear word 150 times. Gosh. I have no idea how to deal with this.

Nov 10, 2024 | johannesburgreviewofbooks.com | Jennifer Malec

The winners of the 2024 South African Literary Awards (the SALAs) have been announced. The SALAs are awarded annually by the wRite Associates and the Department of Arts and Culture to celebrate literary excellence in all South African languages. South African writers, translators and other literary practitioners across sixteen categories were honoured at a ceremony held at the Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History in Pretoria on 7 November, International African Writers Day.

Nov 4, 2024 | johannesburgreviewofbooks.com | Jennifer Malec

The winners of the 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been announced. Jonny Steinberg won the Sunday Times Non-fiction Award for Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage, and Andrew Brown was awarded the Sunday Times Fiction Prize for The Bitterness of Olives. The winners were announced at The Melrose Gallery in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg. The awards celebrate ‘the best of South African non-fiction and fiction’ from the previous year.

Oct 18, 2024 | johannesburgreviewofbooks.com | Jennifer Malec

Shayera Dark • Wamuwi Mbao • Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu • Makhosazana Xaba • Tariro Ndoro • Nozizwe Cynthia Jele • Percy Zvomuya • Jennifer Malec • Musawenkosi Cabe • Athambile Masola • Anna Stroud • Salimah Valiani • Victor Dlamini • Tymon Smith • Zanele Muholi • Jacob Dlamini • Lauretta Ngcobo • Alex La Guma • Laura Fish • Kelwyn Sole • Welcome to the third issue of Volume 8 of The Johannesburg Review of Books! In this issue, Shayera Dark reviews Hisham Matar’s novel My Friends, which hones in...

Oct 18, 2024 | johannesburgreviewofbooks.com | Jennifer Malec

Author Nozizwe Cynthia Jele has recently launched a publishing company, Happiness Books, which will specialise in books written in isiZulu. The first two releases are Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela, a translation of Jele’s novel The Ones with Purpose, and Izinkabi: Yasho Inganono, Laphalala Igazi, a translation of Nathi Olifant’s Blood, Blades and Bullets: An Anatomy of a Glebelands Hitman.