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.
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.
Join Stephen Symons for a poetry reading at the Red Wheelbarrow Collective on 23 July 2026. Time: 19h30 Meeting ID: 813 6429 6708 Password: poetry Platform: Zoom
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
What happens when a book decides to talk – and fart – for itself? Farting in Outer Space turns bathroom humour into laughs while boldly celebrating the freedom to be whoever you are. Join the author, Nick Clelland, for a fun storytime at Wordsworth Books Gardens Centre on Saturday, 18 July 2026, at 11AM.
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’.
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.
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.
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 wasdeur 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.
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’
One aspect of creative writing not well understood or researched is how associations from the unconscious can bring spontaneous and unexpected insights and connections to the writer’s awareness. This feature promotes wellbeing by providing motivation to alter harmful attitudes and behaviour. From linguistics comes the term mirativity, which expresses a speaker’s surprise at the discovery of new information. Mirativity can also apply to the creative writing process, when unforeseen and beneficial material appears from idiosyncratic associations, and therefore cannot be reproduced by AI. Creative writing is a low-cost, inbuilt resource to help people manage their lives and circumstances, to bear witness to influence policy change, and to improve self-care.
Dawn Garisch is an author and medical doctor. She is a founding member of the Life Righting Collective (liferighting.com), running writing courses. She has had seven novels, poetry, short stories, a nonfiction work, and a memoir published. She has had five plays and a short film produced, and has written for television. Dawn has won numerous awards for her published works.
Karavan Press published the following titles by Dawn:
karavanpress.com 