Founding The Johannesburg Review of Books: a conversation between Jennifer Malec and Gisele Ishimwe

‘I’ve always enjoyed picking apart a piece of text and trying to figure out how it works, why it’s so emotionally or intellectually engaging, or why it’s so incredibly awful.’ — Jennifer Malec

Jennifer Malec describes herself as a literature journalist who watches soccer and believes that literary criticism is essential in building a strong writing culture. Jennifer is the founding editor of The Johannesburg Review of Books (JRB) (@JoburgReview), an independent literary review that publishes book reviews, essays, poetry, interviews, photographs and short fiction from South Africa, Africa and beyond. Her journey took shape after completing her MA from the University of Cape Town and decided to ‘venture out into the real world’ she said, she then spent several years as a soccer journalist before landing her dream job at a news website for books and the publishing industry, The Reading List (@readinglist_). She has attained multiple awards, Arts Journalism Awards in 2015 (News: Gold) and 2016 (Features: Silver), and the 2016 African Blogger Award for Best in Arts and Culture.

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Gisele Ishimwe
I would like to start by thanking you for agreeing to be part of our interview series. I have always been a believer in the fact that people are so much more than what they do. In your case, tell us more about the person beyond the official titles and the tremendous achievements you’ve accumulated so far. What inspired you to take this path?

Jennifer Malec
Well, at school, English was always a subject I didn’t really have to work hard at to do well, so it seemed logical to continue with that at university. I really enjoyed it and ended up doing my Master’s. Then I couldn’t find a job for a while and I ended up working as a soccer journalist for quite a few years, which I loved, before landing a position as the editor of a well-known South African book news website called Books Live. Now, in my thirties, sometimes I think I should have taken my dad’s advice and been a doctor or lawyer! But honestly my job makes me happy – I love what I do and feel privileged to be able to work with writers and read books for a living.

Gisele Ishimwe
How fascinating! I think we all have had those moments where we wish we had followed our parent’s career advice, but I love the fact that you followed what you loved and found the job that makes you happy. How did this love for books come about? And at what point did you develop an interest in reviewing them? 

Jennifer Malec
I was one of those kids who used to get in trouble for reading too much; I would read instead of doing my homework or read under the covers after bedtime. My mother is a big reader, and my grandmother was too, so our house was always filled with books – the other children on our street used to come to our house to research their school projects. I also grew up near the Boksburg Library, an incongruous Brutalist wonder of a building, and I spent a lot of time there as a child and teenager. So, books were always a big part of my life, and my current job is kind of a dream job in that respect. I have never really been much of a creative writer, but since I was young, I’ve always enjoyed picking apart a piece of text and trying to figure out how it works, why it’s so emotionally or intellectually engaging, or why it’s so incredibly awful. I think a strong culture of literary criticism and engagement helps to create a strong culture of writing, and South Africa has a proud tradition in both areas.

Gisele Ishimwe
I love your perspective on the importance of literary criticism and its ability to create a strong culture of writing. You’ve spoken like a true academic, did your MA at the University of Cape Town have anything to do with this? Perhaps you can tell us how this experience might have shaped your career.

Jennifer Malec
I would have liked to stay on and become an academic, but I’m terrible at teaching, way too nervous in front of a crowd. So, I had to venture out into the real world (no offence, academics). Then I found I was kind of overqualified for an entry-level position and wondered what I was going to do with my life, until I got my foot in the door of journalism as an intern. Journalism is best learnt through being a journalist, I think, but the skills I learnt at university, how to think critically and rigorously about things, perhaps with some of Keats’s negative capability, are really valuable to my life now, both at work and just generally with regards to how to be a human.

Gisele Ishimwe
That is so interesting, tell us more about venturing out into the real world, what was this transition like? What valuable lessons have your learnt along the way?

Jennifer Malec
I worked as a soccer journalist for Kick Off magazine, starting as an intern doing grunt work – a lot of my time was spent inputting scores and match stats from the lower divisions into a massive Excel spreadsheet. I worked there during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which was a crazy, thrilling, sleep deprived time. But I was still involved in the book world, going to launches, keeping up with literary gossip, and so on. When an opportunity opened up at one of my favourite book websites, Books Live, I had to take it. So, I was a soccer journalist who read literary fiction, and now I’m a literature journalist who watches soccer. (There are quite a few of us, it’s not an unusual overlap!) What I learnt from soccer journalism, hmm. How to write accurate copy at high speed, how to keep calm under pressure, and always, always, fact check and double check how people’s names are spelt.

Gisele Ishimwe
I like the way you’ve summarised that transition, a soccer journalist who read literary fiction, turned into a literature journalist who watches soccer. From your literature journalist lenses, why do you think South African and/or African stories are vital at this particular time in history (locally and/or globally)? And what value do you see them adding to the current state of the world? 

Jennifer Malec
I think all stories are vital. But not all stories get heard. Many people consider fiction frivolous or lightweight. I always think of Jane Austen’s wonderful defence of fiction in Northanger Abbey, in which she said novels are work ‘in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language’. And as Aminatta Forna said, ‘If you want to know a country, read its writers.’ Fiction is the most powerful – and fun – way of understanding other people’s perspectives, and as we experience the world’s sharp turn to extremism, populism and storming nationalism, as our Publisher Ben Williams puts it, it is perhaps more important now than ever before that we try to comprehend each other, even if we don’t agree with each other. The world of African publishing is expanding all the time, becoming fashionable, even, but we still need to work on producing books on our own terms. As we see more independent African presses starting up and so on, this will continue to happen. And we believe we need to support these efforts as much as we can.

Gisele Ishimwe
I love that concept of comprehending each other, even if we don’t agree with each other. How do you see the JRB advancing the literary community of South Africa? What are some of the highlights for you since you started back in 2015? 

Jennifer Malec
I hope we can help to ensure that rich and relevant voices don’t go unnoticed. We want to showcase the excellent literary criticism we have in this country, through our reviews, and the brilliance of literary thought, through our interviews and features. We have published so many great pieces of writing, I couldn’t single any out. But perhaps I can mention a highlight of a different kind, which is the number of literary magazines that have started up over the last few years, such as Imbiza, Doek! and Lolwe, who are really doing the most! Having other literary projects around you gives you faith and confidence, makes you believe it’s possible to change the world in a small way.

Gisele Ishimwe
I absolutely agree with you, many rich and relevant voices do go unnoticed. To challenge this notion, what would you like to see more of in the South African publishing industry and/or from South African writers? 

Jennifer Malec
I’d like to see more debut novelists going on to publish second, third, fourth and fifth books. I’d like to see books being made more affordable. I’d like to see better stocked, more well-funded public libraries. I’d like to see more schools teaching South African books. And, speaking as a fiction fan, I’d like to see more novels being published. South Africa’s non-fiction, political, historical, and so on, is a thriving industry. I’d like to see that on the fiction side, too.

Gisele Ishimwe
So detailed, it sounds like something you’ve given great thought which is an incredible way forward. The JRB shares numerous literary works, which one has been your favourite so far and why? 

Jennifer Malec
I have way too many favourites to mention! Maybe I’ll say Dudu Busani-Dube’s Hlomu series, simply because she demonstrated how a South African author can take the publishing industry by the scruff of its neck, give it a shake, and show what can be achieved independently in self-publishing.

Gisele Ishimwe
I must look this series up, it sounds inspirational. We can both agree that 2021 has been yet another unconventional year for many of us and there has never been a better time to read books, what top 5 books would you recommend for our readers?

Jennifer Malec
To make it challenging, I’ll limit myself to books published this year.

Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

• Years of Fire and Ash: South African Poems of Decolonisation edited by Wamuwi Mbao

• The Promise by Damon Galgut

• The History of Man by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu

·      Transcontinental Delay by Simon Van Schalkwyk (full disclosure, he’s my partner, but it’s brilliant nonetheless)

Gisele Ishimwe
Thank you so much for this list, I am sure our readers will find it helpful. This has been an incredible conversation. Thank you for your precious time.