Welcome to Vol. 2, Issue 3 of The Johannesburg Review of Books

‘In looking behind us the way forward may become clear’—Perfect Hlongwane reviews The Land Is Ours by Tembeka Ngcukaitobi

‘What does the K in your name stand for?’ Read an excerpt from Nthikeng Mohlele’s new novel, Michael K

[City Editor] ‘I try to appreciate township solidarity without romanticising it’: Niq Mhlongo chats to Jennifer Malec about his new book

[Sponsored] ‘Johannesburg is both a place that I know and don’t know’: An interview with Stephen Clingman about his memoir, Birthmark

A novel that takes up Baldwin’s declaration that the story of America ‘is not a pretty one’: Wamuwi Mbao reviews Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing

A real-life Yemeni-American hero: Imraan Coovadia reviews Dave Eggers’s new book, The Monk of Mokha

[Sponsored] Win a copy of The Fatuous State of Severity by Phumlani Pikoli

[Temporary Sojourner] Efemia Chela reads José Eduardo Agualusa’s Angolan War thought experiment, A General Theory of Oblivion

[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Perfect Hlongwane and Yewande Omotoso by Victor Dlamini

‘How does one take part in a national dialogue when your voice carries this baggage?’ Antjie Krog interviews award-winning poet Karin Schimke

[Sponsored] Twists will shock even the savviest reader: Read an excerpt from The Chalk Man, the debut novel by CJ Tudor

‘The closest thing to being in touch with the soul of this country’: Read Mandla Langa’s Introduction to Keorapetse Kgositsile’s Homesoil in My Blood

‘Writing allowed me to honour the connections between life and death’—Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa talks to Tiah Beautement about her memoir, Flame and Song

The PEN International Women’s Manifesto: ‘The act of silencing a person is to deny their existence. It is a kind of death’

[Sponsored] Like Sodium in Water, a memoir of post-independence Zimbabwe by Hayden Eastwood

The man to lead South Africa out of its political and economic crisis? Read an excerpt from Ramaphosa: The Man Who Would Be King