Portfolio

Published work by Kris Van der Bijl — freelance book reviewer, business journalist, and critic, specialising in South African literature and Western Cape Businesses.

My writings have appeared in News24, World Literature Today, Wasafiri, and other leading publications.

---

Journalism, Opinions, Essays

Genocide in the City. Europinion. 22-05-2026.

Cape Town 500MW electricity tender opens door to private power traders. Cape Business News. 15-05-2026.

Western Cape R22m fodder relief package raises pressure on meat and dairy processors. Cape Business News. 11-05-2026.

Western Cape fruit packhouses face EU compliance pressure. Cape Business News. 20-04-2026.

Western Cape wine industry urged to adopt irrigation automation. Cape Business News. 14-04-2026.

Coastal Park Landfill gas-to-energy plant. Cape Business News. 18-03-2026.

Western Cape R131bn infrastructure pipeline: Ambition vs Execution. Cape Business News. 13-03-2026.

Teraco CT2 expands Cape Town Data Centre capacity now. Cape Business News. 12-02-2026.

Seawater batteries for South Africa grid storage. Cape Business News. 10-02-2026.

The contradiction of lazy AI work in SA’s fight against joblessness. News24. 2025-10-02.

The Rhetorical Machinery of South Africa’s Coalition Politics. African Arguments. 2025-09-23.

Rise of the Maassassins: What is driving the Sarah J Maas ‘romantasy’ phenomenon? News24. 2024-03-22.

Book Reviews

On: Behind Prison Walls by Edwin Cameron et al, and Killer Stories by Brin Hodgskiss and Nicole Engelbrecht. The Sociological Review Magazine. 10-02-2026.

On: For You, I’d Steal a Goat by Niq Mhlongo. World Literature Today 100:1 (2026).

Nnedi Okorafor offers a meditation on identity and technology in her latest novel. News24. 2025-08-27.

‘Once Removed feels rare’—Kris Van der Bijl reviews David Mann’s debut short story collection. The Johannesburg Review of Books. 2025-03-25.

The First Murder on Mars: Sam Wilson’s new mystery thriller is a tale of power and survival. News24. 2024-10-15.

On: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera and Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi. Wasafiri: International Journal of Contemporary Writing 39:3 (2024).

Nick Clelland’s Good Hope explores the price of freedom in a dystopian Western Cape. News24. 2024-08-08.

A fascinating experiment: Tanya Meeson’s new fiction unearths visions of a drowned world. News24. 2024-06-07.

Ways of Travelling: Kharys Ateh Laue’s Sketches. Africa in Words. 2024-05-24.

Womb City: A Speculative Fiction and Horror Novel of Anxiety, Trauma, and Hope. News24. 2024-04-25.

Future Imperfect: Babette Gallard takes readers on a pilgrimage through ecological disaster. News24. 2024-02-20.

On: Sensory studies manifesto: tracking the sensorial revolution in the arts and human sciences by David Howes. Anthropology Southern Africa 46:3 (2023).

On: Afterword by Nina Schuyler. Full Stop Magazine. 2023-12-18.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Hell: A Review of Parallel Hells by Leon Craig. Fantastika Journal for Imaginative Narratives 7:2 (2023).

On: The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu. Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing 37:4 (2022).

On: A History of Disappearance by Sarah Lubala. New Coin Poetry 58:2 (2022).

On: Gripscapes: Newly Selected Poems by Norman Morrissey. LitNet. 2021-08-19.

On: All The Places by Musawenkosi Khanyile. Brittle Paper. 2021-05-20.

On: An Illuminated Darkness by Jacques Coetzee. LitNet. 2021-05-12.

On: Finding My Way: Reflections on South African Literature by Duncan Brown. LitNet. 2020-10-14.

On: Steeped in Heritage: The Racial Politics of South African Rooibos Tea by Sarah Ives. LitNet. 2020-06-15.

Interviews

Unearthing the Stories of Families and their Histories: A Dialogue with Tsitsi Mapepa. Africa in Dialogue. 2023-10-16.

Creating Kariba: A Dialogue with James Clarke, Daniel Snaddon and Daniel Clarke. Africa in Dialogue. 2023-06-30.

The Historical Roots of a Landscape: A Dialogue with Bridget Pitt. Africa in Dialogue. 2023-02-03.

Exploring the Fact in Fiction: A Dialogue with A’Eysha Kassiem. Africa in Dialogue. 2021-10-01

A Bridge From Our Own Subjectivities: A Dialogue with Idza Luhumyo. Africa in Dialogue. 2021-09-17.

The Only World I Know Is This One: A Dialogue with Masande Ntshanga. Africa in Dialogue. 2021-08-30.

Searching for Home Along A Hibiscus Coast: A Dialogue with Nick Mulgrew. Africa in Dialogue. 2021-07-19.

Art in the Era of Catastrophe: A Dialogue with Véronique Tadjo. Africa in Dialogue. 2021-06-12.

The Light and Dark of Life: A Dialogue with Sue Nyathi. Africa in Dialogue. 2021-05-21.

Building the African Sci-fi Canon: An Interview with Ivor Hartmann. Brittle Paper. 2020-09-30.

Creative Works

The Girl I Once Saw. The Kalahari Review. 2021-11-16.

Two Poems in New Coin Poetry 57:1 (2021).

pluming in bed. Jalada Africa 09. 2021-02-14.

Refrain. Ja Magazine. 2020-01-16.

Old Gold on Trains. Odd Magazine. 2018-09-01.