On 1 September 2026, Helen Moffett’s Salon Hecate will be having a ‘full circle’ celebration: many of you heard novelist Melissa ‘Missy’ Volker read extracts from her work in progress at one of the surfing salons in World Ocean Month. Likewise, you’ll have heard Glen Thompson, historian and surf scholar (there is such a thing!), read his poems on sea and surf. Both are familiar faces at Salon Hecate: they’re great supporters of local authors, they’re passionate about preserving the ocean and its denizens for the future, and share the Noordhoek Art Point gallery’s commitment to all things green and blue.
So we’re delighted to announce that we will launch not only Missy’s important new book – Chasing Waves: The Rise of Women’s Surfing in South Africa – but we’ll be celebrating the arrival of Glen’s debut collection of poetry – In the Slowness of Melting – as well! This is particularly special because he read those poems for the first time at the Salon.
The salt-splashed pair will interview each other, complementing each other’s approach to waves in words. Don’t miss this event, and be sure to tell all your surfing buddies to come along. (Remember, entrance is free, and there’ll be wine and small snacks.)
CapeTalk’s next edition of READ THE ROOM book club will tell the story of publishing.
Author and independent publisher Karina Szczurek of the multi-award-winning Karavan Press will join John Maytham to share the process of getting a book from an idea in an author’s head into a book that someone opens with delighted anticipation.
She and fellow writer, Kerry Hammerton, have set up a platform, Indeed Books, to help would-be published authors along the often fraught process of self-publishing.
Kerry, Indeed Books author Jenna Mervis and Karina will be in conversation with John.
All the ins and outs of publishing in READ THE ROOM on Thursday, the 27th of August, between 6 and 7PM at the CapeTalk Studios.
Paddlingto what pleasure?sporting hope in dyingwaters
from ‘Paddle action!’
They slipout of reachwhile forming on my lips,utterances mouthedbecome
not sound; an essence of sounda blank speech-bubble,the panel un-inked.
from ‘I wander between words’
Publication date: September 2026
ISBN: 978-1-0671781-2-3
About the author
GLEN L. THOMPSON (he/him) is a Research Fellow in the History Department at Stellenbosch and holds a PhD in History (University of Stellenbosch). He lives in Cape Town and is writing a book on the history, politics and culture of surfing in South Africa.
He is the co-host of The Deep Duck Dive Podcast, a hydrofeminist and critical surf studies public scholarship project. To support his pursuit of the waves and the past, he works as the privacy officer at a mobile messaging technology company. In 2006, he co-wrote Txt Me: A Cellphone Affair, a stage play that was performed at the National Arts Festival Fringe. In the Slowness of Melting is his debut poetry collection.
GLEN L. THOMPSON (he/him) is a Research Fellow in the History Department at Stellenbosch and holds a PhD in History (University of Stellenbosch). He lives in Cape Town and is writing a book on the history, politics and culture of surfing in South Africa.
He is the co-host of The Deep Duck Dive Podcast, a hydrofeminist and critical surf studies public scholarship project. To support his pursuit of the waves and the past, he works as the privacy officer at a mobile messaging technology company. In 2006, he co-wrote Txt Me: A Cellphone Affair, a stage play that was performed at the National Arts Festival Fringe. In the Slowness of Melting is his debut poetry collection.
Life has dealt journalist Deborah Morsey a challenging hand. The traumatic dealings with South Africa’s apartheid police, devastating betrayals and failed love affairs make her feel like a stranger in her own life. Dancing with Nick, a widowed sheep farmer, at a friend’s wedding, she begins to see a new future. After a whirlwind courtship, she accepts his proposal and embraces the idea of becoming a farmer’s wife as well as the stepmother to his daughter, Sara. Opening a small pre-school on their property for the farm workers’ children gives Deborah a renewed sense of purpose while the forgotten love letters she finds hidden in her grandmother’s desk rekindle her innate romanticism. But the uninvited flashbacks to her earlier life and the secrecy around the circumstances of Nick’s first wife’s death are unnerving, and the everyday with Sara and her father is not as uneventful as she’d hoped it would be. Deborah’s weekly visits to her cousin Abi in Grahamstown give her some respite from the farm until she is introduced to human rights lawyer Sanjay, who makes her question everything she thought she knew about love.
A bold exploration of love in all its confusing guises, An Unsuitable Woman is the much-awaited second novel from the author of Under the African Sun.
Praise for An Unsuitable Woman
‘What happens when a young woman from the city suddenly marries a widowed farmer believing that he, his young daughter and country-living will cure her post-traumatic stress disorder and broken heart? Is it possible to sustain the role of traditional wife under any circumstances by simply willing it? What does she do when encounters, events and lingering looks remind her who she truly is and what she really wants? Heartbreaking, heartwarming, and oh-so very true, An Unsuitable Woman delivers a pitch-perfect tribute to the complexities of relationships, misplaced longing, and the general messiness of life. Gilbride excels in exploring how characters are shaped over time by politics, family dynamics and tragedy. An insightful, sharply observed gift of a book!’
– Penny Haw, author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman and Her Stars
About the Author
GAIL GILBRIDE lives with her family in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, where she swims in the sea, writes, gardens and paints. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Rhodes) and a post-graduate diploma (UCT). She taught English, Sound Perception and Communication Skills. She also used to dance and mastering the Tango is still on her wish list. Gail is the author of Under the African Sun, a top ten finalist in the Author Academy Awards competition (USA) and Cat Therapy, an unplanned memoir. An Unsuitable Woman is her second novel.
GAIL GILBRIDE lives with her family in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, where she swims in the sea, writes, gardens and paints. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Rhodes) and a post-graduate diploma (UCT). She taught English, Sound Perception and Communication Skills. She also used to dance and mastering the Tango is still on her wish list. Gail is the author of Under the African Sun, a top ten finalist in the Author Academy Awards competition (USA) and Cat Therapy, an unplanned memoir. An Unsuitable Woman is her second novel.
In 1977, the world surf tour comes to South Africa and the final event of the SA Pro Contest Circuit runs at Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban. Zigzag Surfing Lifestyle Magazine reports that ‘thousands of young, foxy, tanga-clad ladies’ request autographs from the surfing stars.
Prior to the final matchup between the male surfers, the women’s surf contest, a single heat, paddles out. It is called the ‘comedy interlude’ in the press.
A little over four decades later, Melissa A. Volker watches the women’s surfing Gold Medal Match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. South African surfer Bianca Buitendag is competing against USA’s Carissa Moore and wins the first ever Olympic surfing medal for South Africa. Thinking about the challenges South African women had to overcome to charge the waves, Melissa wonders who paved the way for Buitendag. She decides to find out. Chasing Waves chronicles the journey and tells the story of the remarkable women who have defined the local surfing scene.
Praise for Chasing Waves
‘In Chasing Waves, Melissa Volker gives voice to the girls and women who shaped South African surfing’s past and continue to make waves in the present. Weaving in reflections on her research journey and her own surfing life, Volker crafts a tapestry detailing the choices and challenges of courageous female surfers since the Sixties. In documenting their life stories, Volker surfaces hidden surf histories and shows how the waves have become more inclusive. This is not only a book for those who surf but also for those who wish to wade into the unfolding history of South African beach cultures.’ – Glen Thompson
‘An extraordinary book. Chasing Waves, and the women surfers it recognises and celebrates, will inspire you both in and out of the water. I know I will return to it often.’ – Qarnita Loxton
About the Author
MELISSA A. VOLKER is the author of short stories, a novelette, two novels, and several articles on women’s surfing. Her writing is inspired by the land and seascapes of the Eastern Cape, where she grew up. Her environmental romance Shadow Flicker won the Romance Writers Organisation of South Africa’s Strelitzia Award for the best manuscript in 2017. The novel’s protagonist is a renowned surfer. Melissa learnt to surf in 2015 and won the Women’s 45+ South African SUP Surfing Championships in 2017 and 2019. She lives in Cape Town with her husband and two daughters.
This gathering facilitated by Malika Lueen Ndlovu is part of the ongoing series ‘In the Wild Garden of Grief’. The latest iteration of the unfolding grief-tending creative practice is inspired and informed by Malika’s book Griefseed – published in February 2025. Participants receive a signed copy when booking to be part of this deeply immersive, site-specific gathering.
Saturday, 22 August 2026, 11AM-4PM, Hout Bay, booking details above.
Nuwe toetreders skuur skouers met vorige wenners en benoemdes op die kortlyste vir vanjaar se Netwerk24 kykNET Rapport Boekpryse.
Dié pryse, wat tans altesaam R1,4 miljoen beloop, word jaarliks toegeken vir Afrikaanse boeke en resensies wat in die voorafgaande kalenderjaar verskyn het. Vyf boekpryse is op die spel: ’n fiksieprys (vir romans), ’n niefiksieprys, die Breyten Breytenbach-prys vir digkuns, die Herman Binge-prys vir ’n werk met filmpotensiaal en die Jan Rabie-Rapportprys vir debuut- en tweede prosawerke. Twee resensiepryse word toegeken.
Twee voormalige wenners van die fiksieprys, Willem Anker en Gerda Taljaard, is vanjaar weer in dié kategorie benoem. Die niefiksiekortlys pryk ook met twee voormalige wenners: Dana Snyman en Marita van der Vyver, wat voorheen die filmprys gewen het.
In ’n uitsonderlike prestasie is PP Fourie soos in 2024 weer benoem vir sowel die filmprys as die Jan Rabie-Rapportprys vir debuut- en tweede werke.
Vanjaar se kortlyste is, in alfabetiese orde volgens skrywer:
FIKSIE
Patmos, Willem Anker (Queillerie)
Binnerym van bloed, Antjie Krog (Penguin Books)
Die grafdigter, Gerda Taljaard (Penguin Random House)
NIEFIKSIE
Wie de hel is Johnny Joubert?, Dana Snyman (Tafelberg)
My jaar van vrees en vryheid, Marita van der Vyver (Human & Rousseau)
Spanje: Reise in ’n palimpses, André Pretorius(Naledi)
BREYTEN BREYTENBACH-PRYS VIR DIGKUNS
Ek’t Act, Klara du Plessis (Karavan Press)
Kolam, Fourie Botha (Protea)
vloei/stof, Gilbert Gibson (Protea)
JAN RABIE-RAPPORTPRYS VIR DEBUUT- EN TWEEDE PROSAWERKE
Op pad na ’n klooster in die sneeu, Johannes de Villiers (Human & Rousseau)
Die dood van Rachel April, PP Fourie (Queillerie)
’n Jaar in my lewe, Louis Pretorius (LAPA Uitgewers)
HERMAN BINGE-PRYS VIR FILM
Die dood van Rachel April, PP Fourie (Queillerie)
Klein konings, Theo Kemp (Protea)
Ontvoer, Constant van der Merwe (Queillerie)
Altesaam 68 inskrywings is ontvang vir die vyf pryse wat ten doel het om erkenning te gee aan Afrikaanse skrywers en hulle aan te spoor om gehalteskryfwerk in hul moedertaal te lewer.
“Daar was groot wins vir Afrikaans in 2025,” sê die sameroeper van die pryse, Hettie Scholtz. “Die kruin van vanjaar se inskrywings het getuig van genre-tergende, waagmoedige boeke van besonder hoë literêre gehalte. In elkeen van die kategorieë het die skrywers op die kortlyste met uitsonderlike vakmanskap ritme en kadens uit die taal getoor en dit vernuftig verruim.
“By die digkuns was dit veral opvallend hoe aandagtig daar met taal omgegaan is. ’n Verrassing was ook die vars bries van diaspora-letterkunde wat verder bewys lewer dat Afrikaans ’n lewendige taal is wat kan deelneem aan die kontemporêre gesprek in die Suid-Afrikaanse en wêreldletterkunde.”
Die individuele prysgeld beloop R350 000 elk vir die roman- en niefiksieprys onderskeidelik, R200 000 elk vir die Breyten Breytenbach-prys, die Herman Binge-prys en die Jan Rabie-Rapportprys, en R50 000 elk vir die resensiepryse vir fiksie en niefiksie onderskeidelik. Die kortlyste vir die resensiepryse word binnekort aangekondig.
Die wenners word op 26 September 2026 bekend gemaak tydens ’n funksie by die Mount Nelson Hotel in Kaapstad.
Die keurpanele vir die boekpryse was: Fiksie: Deborah Steinmair, Jean Meiring, Ryan Pedro en Beer Adriaanse; Niefiksie: Frederik de Jager, Marga Stoffer, Kerneels Breytenbach en Kirby van der Merwe; Breyten Breytenbach-prys vir digkuns: Louise Viljoen, Johan Myburg, Ronelda Kamfer en Alfred Schaffer; Herman Binge-filmprys: Beer Adriaanse, Wikus du Toit en Kerneels Breytenbach; Jan Rabie-Rapportprys vir debuut- en tweede prosawerke: Andries Bezuidenhout, Mercy Kannemeyer en Danie Marais.
Support the incredible work of the Clanwilliam Animal Welfare Society (CLAWS) and stand a chance to win some amazing local prizes while helping animals in need throughout our community.
karavanpress.com 