Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: Nothing Is Lost by Kerry Hammerton

‘I watch the writer through this prism of water, the way she gobbles food, always rushing out the door. She sits and writes and types and talks to people through a screen. I have seen her weep, and lie down in the middle of the day, too tired to hold her head up. But always her words ring bright. I’m fine. I’m okay. Just busy, you know how it is.’

from underwater orchard

‘… an absorbing, exhilarating collection … this is Kerry Hammerton writing at the height of her powers.’ – Finuala Dowling

KERRY HAMMERTON lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has an MA in Creative Writing from Rhodes University. She has published poetry and prose in various South African and international literary journals and anthologies. Nothing is Lost is Kerry’s fifth poetry collection. Kerry is the editor of In Other Stories, first published in 2024, a series of anthologies of flash fiction and creative non-fiction published by Karavan Press. She facilitates her own creative writing workshops, and has also partnered with various literary festivals and organisations to deliver creative writing seminars. Kerry is a freelance lecturer and supervisor with the Rhodes University School of Languages and Literature on their Master’s in Creative Writing programme.

Find her at www.kerryhammerton.com

Publisher: Karavan Press

Distributor: Booksite

Publication date: July 2026

ISBN: 978-1-0671781-5-4

Karina Author

Author: Firdose Moonda

FIRDOSE MOONDA is a sports journalist and writer whose main role is as the Senior Correspondent for Africa and women’s cricket at Cricinfo but her first published stories were about football. While studying her Journalism Honours degree, Firdose covered the university’s football team, Bidvest Wits, who were in South Africa’s Premier League. She went on to report on the 2010 Football World Cup but with a packed sporting calendar, eventually had cricket chosen for her. She returned to football writing in 2023, inspired by the Women’s World Cup. Firdose is interested in sport as a socio-cultural phenomenon and her stories often come from beyond the boundary. Her writing portfolio includes short stories published in Karavan Press anthologies and chapters in academic books and journals. When she is not writing, Firdose is a yoga scholar and teacher trainer.

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: 185 – The Janine van Wyk Story as told to Firdose Moonda

From kicking a ball in the backyard with her cousins, to being the only girl in a boys’ team, JANINE VAN WYK rose to become the most-capped footballer in Africa and is among the most decorated players in the global game. This book charts her journey alongside the growth of the women’s game and the changing landscape of South African sport. Hop on a bus in Mozambique, bathe in a river in Nigeria and feel the fury of fans in Equatorial Guinea as Janine and her teammates chase continental glory. Experience the thrills of the Olympic Games and the World Cups and the progression to professionalism as Janine earns contracts abroad. What never leaves her is her commitment to developing and contributing to the game at home. Alongside her quest to break the record for most appearances for an African national side, Janine navigates co-owning a football club, the Covid-19 crisis, and changing team and relationship dynamics. This is not just a story about sport; it is a story about dreams, determination and a deep desire to be the best one can be.

About the author:

FIRDOSE MOONDA is a sports journalist and writer whose main role is as the Senior Correspondent for Africa and women’s cricket at Cricinfo but her first published stories were about football. While studying her Journalism Honours degree, Firdose covered the university’s football team, Bidvest Wits, who were in South Africa’s Premier League. She went on to report on the 2010 Football World Cup but with a packed sporting calendar, eventually had cricket chosen for her. She returned to football writing in 2023, inspired by the Women’s World Cup. Firdose is interested in sport as a socio-cultural phenomenon and her stories often come from beyond the boundary. Her writing portfolio includes short stories published in Karavan Press anthologies and chapters in academic books and journals. When she is not writing, Firdose is a yoga scholar and teacher trainer.

Publisher: Karavan Press

Distributor: Booksite

Publication date: August 2026

ISBN: 978-1-0671781-4-7

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: Memories In Our Throats, edited by Melissa Sussens

Memories In Our Throats is an anthology of English South African poetry, edited by Melissa Sussens. We hope that the 2026 edition is only the first in a series of similar snapshots of contemporary poetic preoccupations.

EDITOR

Melissa Sussensis a queer veterinarian and poet. Her debut collection, Slaughterhouse (Karavan Press, 2022), was a finalist for the 2024 HSS Awards and was shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize 2024. She placed 2nd in the 2020 New Contrast National Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the 2022 prize. Melissa was also shortlisted for the 2024 Isele Poetry Prize and her work has appeared in many publications, both locally and internationally. She has performed at the Poetry in McGregor Festival, The Commons and The Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Collective. She spent years as a teaching assistant for Megan Falley’s international writing course, Poems That Don’t Suck and her favourite part of writing is editing. Melissa lives in Cape Town with her wife and their two dogs. Find her at melissasussens.com or @melissasussens.

CONTRIBUTORS

Cover image | Fragment of Nina Kruger’s ‘Unmade’ (2026); Protea fibres, alpaca fleece, netting

Publisher: Karavan Press

Distributor: Booksite

Publication date: July 2026

ISBN: 978-1-0671781-0-9

Karina Author, Book, Event

Consuelo Roland & Lucienne Bestall join ‬Tyra Asia‭ ‬& ‬Christelle Connor in conversation

Mortality forms a thematic throughline in both Consuelo’s first novel, The Good Cemetery Guide (2005), and Lucienne’s debut collection of non-fiction essays, Except for Breath: Reflections on Image and Memory (2025). The authors’ mutual curiosity about death – and what it might teach us about love and longing – is differently explored in their respective genres. While Consuelo tells the story of a funeral director who leads a double life alongside the recently departed, Lucienne considers the ways art and literature have pictured and described ‘the only possible ending’.

🍎 Friday, 24‭ ‬July 2026, 11am–12.30pm, Bellville Library

Please RSVP by Wednesday 22‭ ‬July: bellville.library@capetown.gov.za, 021‭ ‬444‭ ‬0300

Consuelo is a writer working across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her debut novel, The Good Cemetery Guide, was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the Olive Schreiner Award, and was recently reissued by Karavan Press.

Lucienne is a curatorial researcher and writer. She has contributed to leading local and international art publications and journals, and her essay collection, Except for Breath: Reflections on Image and Memory, was published by Karavan Press in 2025.

Consuelo and Lucienne live in Cape Town.

Karina Author, Book, Event

A Fiction Writing Masterclass with Anna Stroud

Please join an online masterclass with the Jacana Literary Foundation, presented by Anna Stroud, author of the award-winning Who Looks Inside, on Wednesday, 24 June, at 19:00 via Zoom. Tickets are R150.

Anna Stroud offers practical advice and exercises to help aspiring fiction authors tap into their hidden selves. Learn how to fight imposter syndrome by getting out of your head and into your work. Bring pen and paper for a hands-on 1-hour fiction writing workshop, followed by 30 minutes of reflection, sharing (if you want to) and questions.

Click here for details: A Fiction Writing Masterclass with Anna Stroud

Karina Author, Book, Prize

2026 UJ-pryse vir Afrikaans: KORTLYSTE

Die UJ-pryse vir Afrikaans word toegeken aan uitnemende tekste in enige genre wat oorspronklik in Afrikaans geskryf is en in die vorige kalenderjaar verskyn het.

65 boeke wat in 2025 gepubliseer is, was vir hierdie jaar ingeskryf: 50 vir die UJ-prys en 15 vir die UJ-debuutprys.

Die UJ-pryse is in 2001 vir die eerste maal toegeken, toe as die RAU Mardene Maraisprys: die gevolg van die inisiatief en skenking van dr Fanie Marais van Cordis Trust. Sedert 2005, met die stigting van die Universiteit van Johannesburg, staan die pryse bekend as die UJ-pryse vir Afrikaans.

Vir die tweede agtereenvolgende jaar is geen dramatekste ingeskryf nie, terwyl ongeveer ’n derde van die inskrywings digbundels was: 20 in totaal, met 5 hiervan debute. 

Die volgende boeke, alfabeties volgens outeur, is deur die beoordelaars uitgesonder vir die kortlyste van die 2026 UJ-pryse vir Afrikaans.

2026 UJ-debuutprys vir Afrikaans

  • Ek’t / Act deur Klara du Plessis (Karavan Press)
  • waar daar eens ‘n see was deur Jennifer Pape (Turksy Uitgewers)
  • Kruiper – Crawler deur Shane van der Hoven (Uhlanga Press)

2026 UJ-prys vir Afrikaans

  • Patmos – Willem Anker (Queillerie, Jonathan Ball)
  • Kolam – Fourie Botha (Protea Boekhuis)
  • Klein konings – Theo Kemp (Protea Boekhuis)
  • Die binnerym van bloed – Antjie Krog (Penguin)
  • Prins – Ryan Pedro (Kwela, Jonathan Ball)

Die kortlyste van die UJ-pryse het deur die jare goeie verteenwoordiging van digbundels getoon, maar dit is opvallend dat al drie titels op die kortlys vir die debuutprys, en ook twee titels op die kortlys vir die UJ-prys digbundels is. Dit is ook die eerste maal dat die kortlys vir die debuutprys slegs kleiner, onafhanklike uitgewerye verteenwoordig.

Van harte geluk aan die skrywers en uitgewers!

Die paneel beoordelaars vir die 2026 UJ-pryse vir Afrikaans, is prof Reinhard Fourie (UNISA), me Mercy Kannemeyer (UJ), dr Dewald Koen (NMU), dr Janien Linde (NWU), me Elodi Troskie (UK) en prof Karen de Wet (UJ, voorsitter).

Die aankondiging van die wenners word volgende week verwag.

Van harte geluk aan Klara!

Karina Author, Book, Event, Festival

Stephen Symons is headline guest of this year’s Karoo Writers Festival

Taking place in Cradock, Olive Schreiner’s childhood home, in the Eastern Cape from 18 to 20 June 2026, this year’s edition of the Karoo Writers Festival is hosted jointly by Amazwi South African Museum of Literature and the Victoria Manor Hotel.

The headline guest this year is Stephen Symons, whose fifth poetry collection The Algebra of Insignificance won the 2026 Olive Schreiner Prize for Poetry.

Catch him at the following events:

Thursday, 18 June, Victoria Manor Hotel, 19:00

AVBOB Showcase with music by ACCESS Music, featuring Stephen Symons, 2026 Olive Schreiner Prize Winner for Poetry for The Algebra of Insignificance & Clinton V du Plessis, AVBOB Afrikaans Poetry Winner, reading from his latest poetry collection, Maar steeds sal daar miskien.

Friday, 19 June, Victoria Manor Hotel, 08:30-10:30

Stephen Symons: ‘Why poetry matters … especially in the classroom’

Saturday, 20 June, Victoria Manor Hotel, 10:00

Stephen Symons: ‘The highs and lows of my writing journey’

More info: Brittle Paper

Full programme: Karoo Writers Festival