The new issue of the Johannesburg Review of Books is online now. The January “Conversation Issue” includes my interview with Gail Fincham for the South African Literary magazine Tydskrif vir Letterkunde – we chat my writing and forthcoming novel, Stone Plant. (In English) Read the full interview here. I value a destabilising sense of estrangement […]
Author: Henrietta Rose-Innes
South African fiction writer; author of the novels Nineveh and Green Lion.
Twenty years of the Caine Prize: the collection
To celebrate twenty years of the Caine Prize, Africa’s premier literary competition, an anthology of short stories featuring all twenty winners so far has been published by New Internationalist. It contains my story ‘Poison’, as well as work by upcoming and leading African writers Leila Aboulela, Helon Habila, Binyavanga Wainana, Yvonne Owuor, Brian Chikwava, Mary Watson, Monica […]
Animalia Paradoxa: evocative and affecting
Book blogger David Hebblethwaite has written a generous review of my collection of short stories, Animalia Paradoxa, which you can read here: “An evocative and affecting collection of stories. It leaves me keen to read more.” Animalia Paradoxa is available from Boiler House Press.
An interview with Gail Fincham
I recently was interviewed by literary scholar Gail Fincham for South African literary journal Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. It’s a wide-ranging discussion about my writing and influences, past and present. You can access it here. I value a destabilising sense of estrangement in writing; among other things, it is one way to approach writing about the […]
Stone Plant taster at Bloody Parchment
I debuted a short extract from my work-in-progress novel Stone Plant in Cape Town at the annual South African Halloween Horrorfest, as part of the Bloody Parchment readings by local horror authors. It was gruesome … Here’s a taster of the taster: In the layers furthest from the sun, the skeletons of old, strange animals swam, their giant forms […]
Read “Animalia Paradoxa” – free story
My short story “Animalia Paradoxa” was featured as the “weekend read” by For Books’ Sake, a site that champions writing by women. This is the title story of my new collection from Boiler House Books, which can be purchased here. A virus inflames a woman with mortal desire; a colonial naturalist seeks an impossible specimen; […]
Animalia Paradoxa emerges from its shell
My new collection of short stories, Animalia Paradoxa, is out now from Norwich-based Boiler House Press, as part of their exciting first fiction offering: great new books from Ben Borek, Ruby Cowling and Jonathan Gibbs complete the beautifully designed set. Buy them now direct from Boiler House ( international shipping available). The stories have never […]
Stories of Ourselves
My story “Promenade” is included in this Cambridge University Press schools anthology, which I certainly wouldn’t have minded having at school. It’s a very nice eclectic selection: The anthology contains short stories written in English by authors from many different countries and cultures, including Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Christina Rossetti, Janet Frame, Jhumpa Lahiri, Romesh […]
‘Sanctuary’ for free on your phone
You can now read my Safari Gothic short story ‘Sanctuary’, and a huge trove of other downloadable e-books of all kinds, for free on your phone on the SimplyE app. It’s provided by the The New York Public Library, but you don’t need to be a library member, or in the States, to access it. (Use […]
Cape Town, lions and more
An interview – from several months ago now – with The Booktrail, on my home town and my novels. Every book creates its own sensory landscape; I think some writers are more attuned to certain senses as well. I’ve always thought of myself as a very visual writer, and Nineveh is full of lush images of glinting […]
