Bongani Kona

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Features, Lit Scene, News August 27, 2019

New Anthology of South African Writing Explores Identity with Stories & Photographs of Hair

A new anthology features “short stories inspired by hair.” Edited by Joanne Hichens and Karina M. Szczurek, HAIR: Weaving & Unpicking Stories of Identity is forthcoming from Tattoo Press in September 2019. Contributors include the novelist Fred Khumalo, Etisalat Prize 2015 winner Songeziwe Mahlangu, Caine Prize 2007 winner Mary Watson, Short Story Day Africa prize […]

African Literary Digest: 79 Notable Pieces of 2017

It isn’t that time of the year when we look back on what happened in it—that time is December, and this is February. But a delay in releasing this list seemed inevitable for a year that, on several levels, saw our literary culture expand. Organisations took groundbreaking steps: in March, Jalada Africa held a 12-city, […]

Petina Gappah Talks Her Writing Career, Law, and Zimbabwean Music, Languages and Politics

A little while back, Petina Gappah, who was recently named a judge for the 2018 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, had a conversation with Bongani Kona, 2016 Caine Prize finalist and Contributing Editor at Chimurenga Chronic. The interview was conducted for The Johannesburg Review. Gappah’s debut collection of stories, An Elegy for Easterly, won The Guardian Best First Book […]

#CainePrize2016 | Review of Bongani Kona’s At Your Requiem | by Aaron Bady

I’ve started to get really annoyed by false suspense in novels. I won’t tell you which novel provoked the feeling, because it’s not that particular writer’s fault that so many writers seem to confuse withholding with plot development. But I announce to you now that I have become annoyed with novels that drag you across […]

#CainePrize2016 | The Five Shortlisted Writers Revealed

We are delighted to join in kicking off the 17th edition of the Caine Prize for African Fiction. A few days ago, the organizers revealed the shortlisted writers. All five writers are now in the running for the £10,000 prize, which will be awarded on July 4 at one of the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford. The one […]