Welcome to Vol. 4, Issue 6 of The Johannesburg Review of Books—The #BlackLivesMatter issue

‘They hate us like we murdered their entire family.’ Read Shelter In Place, an essay on anti-Blackness by Adam Smyer

What continuities can be drawn from The Murder of Ahmed Timol to the killing of George Floyd? Wamuwi Mbao unpacks the debased tradition of police murdering civilians

[Sponsored] Pan Macmillan SA stance on the South African publishing landscape

'Does my chest sound tight to you?' The first 40 days; notes from a South African lockdown, by Nadia Davids

‘Black people are not asking to be loved beyond reason.’ Hemley Boum reflects on the Black Lives Matter protests during the coronavirus lockdown

[Sponsored] Find out more about Humankind—the major new book from Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, ‘the folk hero of Davos’

[Read] Pan-African Anti-Racism and Solidarity Reading List: A Resource from The JRB

‘I could easily be the next George Floyd. If I make just one unconscious mistake.’ Read ‘A letter from Texas’, by Nkiacha Atemnkeng

[Sponsored] Explosive new book tells all—The Accidental Mayor: Herman Mashaba and the Battle for Johannesburg

‘I was anticipating that it would be banned before we even got it out’ Stella Nyanzi chats to Esther Mirembe about her prison poetry collection No Roses from My Mouth

[Sponsored] Make your book dream come true with Paper Frog Publishing, a subdivision of LAPA and Penguin Random House SA

[Review] Of fear and motherly love—Rofhiwa Maneta reviews Imani Perry’s memoir Breathe: A Letter to My Sons

[Review] Philosophy in Africa, or Africa in Philosophy? Mary Carman reviews Debating African Philosophy: Perspectives on Identity, Decolonial Ethics and Comparative Philosophy

[Sponsored] Mubanga Kalimamukwento wins Best Fiction at the 2020 CDI Zambia Tell Your Own Story National Book Awards

[City Editor] ‘Writers do not write alone. They are always in the company of other writers’—Lidudumalingani reflects on reading books that make you write

[Photo Editor] A portrait of George Hallett by Victor Dlamini

[Poetry] ‘NO ONE IS SAFE’, a poem by Allan Kolski Horwitz

[Exclusive] Read an excerpt from Sex and Lies, the first work of non-fiction in English from award-winning Moroccan author Leïla Slimani

‘The brown man in a white man’s city who is watching other brown men.’ Read an excerpt from Amnesty, the new novel from Man Booker Prize winner Aravind Adiga

‘Thinking while black’—Read Grace A Musila’s essay from the award-winning book Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience

‘Those gold men really think this land belongs to them’ Read an excerpt from C Pam Zhang’s debut novel, which reimagines the myth of the American West

Read ‘Black children and white dolls’ by Kopano Ratele, excerpted from his book The World Looks Like This From Here: Thoughts on African Psychology

‘Race matters. It matters because of the meanings we give to it.’ Read an excerpt from Race Otherwise: Forging a New Humanism for South Africa by Zimitri Erasmus

‘It’s surreal that a coming-of-age story set in Umlazi has found another home in the USA’ International deal for Sifiso Mzobe’s debut novel Young Blood (Plus: Excerpt)

[The JRB Daily] 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional winners announced—including Nigerian writer Innocent Chizaram Ilo

[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

[The JRB Daily] Zambian author Namwali Serpell shortlisted for Arthur C Clarke Award, the UK’s most prestigious prize for science fiction

[The JRB Daily] Media24 Books Literary Prizes winners announced, including Jonny Steinberg, Trevor Sacks and Edyth Bulbring

[The JRB Daily] Writers condemn the lack of diversity in the 2020 Media24 Books Literary Prizes

[The JRB Daily] ‘We made a mistake’—Media24 Books apologises for lack of diversity in literary awards judging panels

[RIP] George Hallett, 1942—2020, RIP

[RIP] How to make photographs that mattered—The JRB Photo Editor Victor Dlamini remembers George Hallett

[RIP] Elsa Joubert, 1922—2020, RIP