Karavan Press title: Land | Lines by Shari Daya

No – listen – I carried on.
Even now, some days, the weight buckles my knees.

“Shari Daya’s poems bring out what she calls ‘the thrill of hot, soft, quiet lives’: beach holidays and household incense, the pains and pleasures of childhood and parenthood and the professional joys of geography, Indian Ocean migration, the anatomy of the cornea, and the special beauty of the Cederberg. Her language is serious, quiet, and sometimes spectacular.” – Imraan Coovadia

“Shari Daya’s Land | Lines is an exquisitely-crafted kaleidoscope of poetry and memoir. Daya’s text – a series of meditations on remembrance, parenting, identity, gardening, the wild freedoms of nature, the joys and dangers of childhood – glows. She brings a sense of wonder to the quotidian that invites the reader to glimpse at her life and, perhaps, see their own lives anew. I loved every gorgeous sentence and saw, as I read it, that rare, precious thing in literature: a Cape Town, both past and present, that I recognised.” – Nadia Davids

“Shari Daya’s debut collection is a tender and moving evocation of the complex intersections of family, ancestry and private spaces. Daya writes with quiet confidence. She cares deeply about every word and image, and this makes the reader care deeply too.” – Kobus Moolman

ISBN: 978-1-7764726-9-7

Publication date: July 2024

About the author:

SHARI DAYA is a geographer and poet from Cape Town. Her poetry and essays explore the intricate and entangled geographies of lineage, place and the body. Her work has appeared in the literary journals Obsidian, Stanzas, New Contrast and the anthologies Africa! My Africa! and I Wish I’d Said… Vol. 5: A Product of the AVBOB Poetry Project. She earned an MA in Creative Writing, with distinction, at the University of Cape Town in 2023.

Land | Lines is her debut poetry collection.