The first Festival of Poetry at Bertha House last year was such a success that many had hoped it would become an annual event. No one can predict the distant future, but we are happy to share the news that the second Festival of Poetry will be taking place at two locations and over two separate days this year:
19 October 2024 – FISH HOEK LIBRARY
9 November 2024 – BERTHA HOUSE
On 19 October 2024, please join us for the following events at the Fish Hoek Library:
Please join Nick Clelland for the Durban launch of his Good Hope. Nick will be in conversation with Greg Ardé. Wordsworth Books Ocean Mall is hosting on Thursday, 10 October. Not to be missed!
The Johannesburg writer Anna Stroud’s first novel, Who Looks Inside, is about family trauma and small town secrets, and stretches from South Korea to the Karoo, and finally comes to an end in Johannesburg. Nick Clelland’s novel Good Hope is set in a dystopian future where the Western Cape is an independent country. Those in power will sweep anything under the rug to maintain the illusion of a well-functioning state and booming economy. Publisher Jaco Adriaanse facilitates this meeting of North and South.
SATURDAY, 5 October, 18:00, EasyEquities Book Tent
Poets often feel obliged to write about love, but perhaps it is time to wax lyrical about the often more reliable and long-lasting love between friends instead. Invited poets bring two verses each about friendship. Is friendship indeed one soul in two bodies, or simply the one soul that will be there when your world falls apart? Bring your best friend and discover fresh insights into what makes your bond so special.
With Loftus Marais, Jolyn Phillips, André le Roux, Jaco Barnard-Naudé, Lynthia Julius, Danie Marais and Beatrice Willoughby.
We had a full house at Exclusive Books V&A Waterfront for the launch of In Other Stories, edited by Kerry Hammerton. Kerry was in conversation with Nancy Richards.
Most of the flash anthology contributors were present. A few are first-time published authors, which made the launch so much more special. It was an incredibly joyous occasion and a beautiful way to welcome the book into the world. Thank you to all for making it happen and to all who shared the celebration with us! Happy reading!
On 21 September, Kerry is running a flash fiction workshop in view of compiling the next anthology of flashes. Click here for details: FLASH FICTION WORKSHOP.
We are launching In Other Stories – the flash anthology Kerry Hammerton compiled and edited – on Wednesday, 11 September, at Exclusive Books V&A Waterfront. Ten days later, on 21 September, Kerry is running a flash fiction workshop in view of compiling the next anthology of flashes. For details see:
The shortlists of the 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been announced today and The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown features on the Fiction Prize shortlist.
Fiction Prize Criteria
The winner should be a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction.
Judges:
Siphiwo Mahala Dr Alma-Nelisha Cele Michele Magwood
CHAIR OF JUDGES SIPHIWO MAHALA SAYS:
The judging panel approached the books entered for this year’s Fiction Prize with a keen interest to delve into a world of the unknown. In turn, we were introduced to a kaleidoscopic array of writing from both the seasoned and emerging writers alike. The result was a pleasantly edifying and exhilarating experience, as reading these novels was embarking on a journey punctuated with diverse themes, surprising and experimental narrative styles and boundless imagery. The wide range of settings, encompassing familiar and unfamiliar locations, bears testament to the universality of our stories and illustrate that our narratives transcend the realist preoccupations with the present moment. These five shortlisted novels, each in its own unique way, represent masterful works of rare, unfettered and powerful imagination.
Here is the fiction shortlist in order of the author’s surname:
Buried Treasure by Sven Axelrad (Umuzi)
The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown (Karavan Press)
The Egg Dilemma by Morabo Morojele (Jacana)
The Institute for Creative Dying by Jarred Thompson (Picador Africa)
Mirage by David Ralph Viviers (Umuzi)
The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown (Karavan Press) Written before the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip on October 7, Brown’s latest novel is set against the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A retired detective in Tel Aviv and Palestinian doctor in Gaza with a shared past, must resolve their differences to investigate a murder. Judges said: A harrowing account of a moment of strife, beautifully told. The author, endowed with vivid imagination coupled with acumen and erudition, deftly immerses the reader in a brutal and bewildering landscape. A wholly sublime narrative, this novel is contemporaneous, daring, complex and aesthetically pleasing.
karavanpress.com 