Karina Author, Book, Event

Last night at The Book Lounge: UCT Writers Series with Frankie Murrey and Bongani Kona

When introducing Frankie Murrey last night at the first UCT Writers Series event taking place at The Book Lounge, Sindiswa Busuku called Frankie a “worker of the imagination”. It is an apt title for the literary powerhouse that she is. Every time I listen to Frankie speak about her work – the curation of the Open Book Festival and her writing – I am inspired. Her words make me want to return to my own writing. The way she reads and actually sees the world, in books and beyond, is a true gift to the literary community. She was in conversation with the ever-thoughtful, funny and incisive Bongani Kona. Listening to them discuss literature and Frankie’s “distinctive” – as Bongani called it – debut, Everyone Dies, was an extraordinary experience.

Here are only a few snippets of what Frankie shared with the audience:

“I read compulsively. If nothing else is available, I will read the text on a shampoo bottle.”

“It’s amazing to see what is happening in this country moving onto the published page.”

“Everything I know, everything I am is through books, through reading and writing.”

“I’m interested in writing in such a way that anything I write about becomes accessible while still preserving the beauty of language; I’m interested in finding a simplicity that holds.”

“I love microscopes because they allow you to look at something in an intense way.”

Click here to buy Everyone Dies at The Book Lounge: Everyone Dies by Frankie Murrey

In March 2024, Frankie won the HSS Award for Best Emerging Author in the Fiction Category for Everyone Dies.

Karina Author, Book, Event

GOOD HOPE by Nick Clelland launched at 6 Spin Street

What an evening! The crowds gathered at 6 Spin Street to celebrate the launch of Good Hope by Nick Clelland last night.

Nick was in conversation with the wonderful Refilwe Moloto, who asked all the pertinent and intriguing questions and made us laugh.

Good Hope was written during lockdown. ‘It is my banana bread,’ Nick said. To bring the setting – an alternative, speculative present-day Cape Town that is the capital of a new independent country, the Good Hope Territory – he had to do some serious world-building. The result was a fictional Wikipedia entry longer than the one real South Africa has at present. But only excerpts from it feature in the novel. The rest is a fast-paced narrative about a handful of characters trying to make themselves at home in this strange, new – and eerie – world. ‘It is Cape Town, but it ain’t,’ Nick said.

It is a riveting read about what happens when ‘liberty is on fire’. Nick told us that he wanted ‘to poke the bear’ and examine the concept of freedom, even more so now when we are approaching the next elections. Good Hope does not give answers to difficult questions about franchise, privacy and agency, but is not afraid to ask them. ‘If you read this book and do not feel awkward at some stage, you are probably a psychopath,’ he said. ‘I wanted to shake things up, to provoke a conversation. Politics can and should be fun.’

Many questions from the audience followed, including one about what people in the Good Hope Territory do for fun … The usual, was the answer. But I doubt that they have such fabulous book launches 🙂

Thank you to Nick and Refilwe for the enticing conversation. To 6 Spin Street for hosting! To all who attended! And to our amazing Book Lounge for EVERYTHING!

Enjoy the thought-provoking read!

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: IN SILENCE MY HEART SPEAKS by Thobeka Yose

In Silence My Heart Speaks

I show my scars now with pride because I survived. This is me owning my story, all of it, the good and the bad.

A searing and brave memoir chronicling the author’s resilience, compassion and growth as she moves from a childhood of trauma, through the challenges of dealing with the early loss of her beloved husband and becoming a single parent as well as subsequently accompanying her child on a difficult journey of self-discovery, to a life of acceptance and forgiveness. Thobeka Yose confronts the taboos surrounding mental health, abuse, betrayal and sexual identity with fearless honesty, kindness and understanding that will inspire countless others.

Foreword by Nancy Richards.

Publication date: May 2024

ISBN: 978-1-0672224-0-6

About the author:

Hailing from Bizana, Eastern Cape, THOBEKA YOSE cultivated a love for storytelling in the fertile soil of primary school. Initially drawn to the corporate world, she pursued studies in marketing and business. However, the allure of narrative proved irresistible, prompting Thobeka to embark on a writer’s journey. She has edited and contributed to publications locally and internationally. Prior to the pandemic, Thobeka’s repertoire expanded into the realm of audio storytelling. As producer of ‘Touch Down With Top Women’ for Top Radio, she captivated audiences across Africa and beyond with her year-long programme. The ink in her veins continues to flow. As Content Manager at Batazia, Thobeka empowers aspiring writers and publishers by facilitating the dissemination of their works on a global platform, encompassing diverse African languages. This role fuels her passion for language and the profound fulfilment it brings. Beyond the written word, Thobeka is a vocal advocate for women’s rights and a staunch opponent of gender-based violence. Her unwavering commitment has led her to address audiences at various women’s events. From the sun-drenched fields of Bizana to the global stage of storytelling and social activism, Thobeka’s journey continues to inspire and uplift.

Karina Author

Author: Thobeka Yose

Hailing from Bizana, Eastern Cape, THOBEKA YOSE cultivated a love for storytelling in the fertile soil of primary school. Initially drawn to the corporate world, she pursued studies in marketing and business. However, the allure of narrative proved irresistible, prompting Thobeka to embark on a writer’s journey. She has edited and contributed to publications locally and internationally. Prior to the pandemic, Thobeka’s repertoire expanded into the realm of audio storytelling. As producer of ‘Touch Down With Top Women’ for Top Radio, she captivated audiences across Africa and beyond with her year-long programme. The ink in her veins continues to flow. As Content Manager at Batazia, Thobeka empowers aspiring writers and publishers by facilitating the dissemination of their works on a global platform, encompassing diverse African languages. This role fuels her passion for language and the profound fulfilment it brings. Beyond the written word, Thobeka is a vocal advocate for women’s rights and a staunch opponent of gender-based violence. Her unwavering commitment has led her to address audiences at various women’s events. From the sun-drenched fields of Bizana to the global stage of storytelling and social activism, Thobeka’s journey continues to inspire and uplift.

Karina Author, Book, Event

Amy Heydenrych’s BAD LUCK PENNY launched at The Book Lounge

It was a heart-warming literary evening at The Book Lounge when Amy Heydenrych interrupted her Cape holiday to launch her beautiful new novel, Bad Luck Penny, with us on Thursday evening. She was in conversation with Qarnita Loxton and spoke about all the love she poured into writing this book. You can feel it on every page. It is a privilege to be able to share it now with other Readers as it makes its way into the world …

Thank you, Amy, for publishing this gem with Karavan Press!

And thank you to all who made the launch so special, especially Qarnita and The Book Lounge! Qarnita Fans, we have good news: her new novel is coming soon too!

Look at this beautiful gift Amy received from her Mom to celebrate the launch of Bad Luck Penny. The design matches Monique Cleghorn’s exquisite (as always) page design of the book.

Karina Author, Book, Event

The launch of GOOD HOPE by Nick Clelland

One month before our elections, on 29 April 2024, we are launching Good Hope. Nick Clelland‘s daring debut novel takes us on an imaginative journey to the heart of an unsettling alternative reality where the Western Cape is an independent country. The Good Hope Territory is entering its next elections cycle which could potentially unseat the governing party and see a new First Minister voted into power. On the surface of things, this is a well-functioning state with a booming economy. But at what cost? And what are the people vying for power prepared to sweep under the Mother City’s table cloth to achieve their goals?

Please join us for the launch of this fast-paced, intriguing novel that will make you see the present in a new light.

Nick will be in conversation with Refilwe Moloto.

Please note the venue: 6 Spin Street 

THE WESTERN CAPE IS NOW AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY.
SUCCESSFUL, SAFE,
MURDEROUS

Lisa Robinson has moved from Durban to Cape Town to be with Grant, the prospective next First Minister of the Good Hope Territory. The GHT is the safest and most prosperous country in the southern hemisphere – at a price. Citizens contract to be tracked by drones, executions are synchronised to the Noon Gun and only those with qualifications are permitted to vote in the Qualified Franchise system. Life here is picture-perfect. The Mother City is pristine. Everyone has a job. Tourism is booming. But this shiny new state has decided that Lisa is a problem, and problems here disappear quickly and quietly.

‘A riveting read and a scary glimpse into what happens when liberty is traded for order. Unputdownable.’ — GEORDIN HILL-LEWIS

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings

The highly anticipated Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings is launching in the UK tomorrow. The South African edition of this unflinching and profound novel will be published locally in early May. Please join us for The Book Lounge launch on 8 May.

About the book:

Cape Town, 2028. The land cracks from a years-long drought, the nearby mountains threaten to burn, and the queue for the water trucks grows ever longer. In her crumbling corner of a public housing complex, Deidre van Deventer receives a call from the South African police. Her family home, recently reclaimed by the government, has become the scene of a criminal investigation. The remains of several bodies have just been unearthed from her land, after decades underground. Detectives pepper Deidre with questions: Was your brother a member of a pro-apartheid group in the 1990s? Is it true that he was building bombs as part of a terrorist plot?

Deidre doesn’t know the answers to the detectives’ questions. All she knows is that she was denied – repeatedly – the life she felt she deserved. Overshadowed by her brother, then left behind by her daughter after she emigrated, Deidre must watch over her aging mother and make do with government help and the fading generosity of her neighbours while the landscape around her grows more and more combustible. As alarming evidence from the investigation continues to surface, and detectives pressure her to share what she knows of her family’s disturbing past, Deidre must finally face her own shattered memories so that something better might emerge for her and her country.

In exquisitely spare prose, Karen Jennings weaves a singularly powerful novel about post-apartheid South Africa. It is an unforgettable, propulsive story of fractured families, collective guilt, the ways we become trapped in prisons of our own making, and how we can begin to break free.

ISBN: 978-1-7764726-2-8

Cover artwork of the SA edition by Deborah Minné.

Praise for Crooked Seeds:

‘Karen Jennings is a modern master of the castaway novel. Her characters are often exiled from the world—physically or psychologically, sometimes both. Crooked Seeds’ Deidre and Trudy are unforgettable characters living on the margins of life. Together they make this an unsparing, yet profoundly beautiful novel.’ – Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize

‘This is an extraordinary novel. It is shattering, almost unbearable, yet – so good, so clear – it is unputdownable.’ – Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

‘Deidre’s the kind of character who gets under your skin: furious, flawed and utterly unique. Jennings writes about broken people with unflinching honesty and deep compassion. A quietly devastating novel.’ – Jan Carson, author of The Raptures

Reviews:

“A perfectly realised fictional creation” – John Self, The Guardian

“‘Crooked Seeds’ is hard to read and impossible to look away from” – Ron Charles, The Washington Post

About the author:

KAREN JENNINGS is a South African writer whose novel An Island was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021. She is currently writer-in-residence as a post-doctoral fellow at the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa’s Past (LEAP), Stellenbosch University, and is writing a novel and short stories to contribute to the project. Karen co-founded The Island Prize for unpublished African authors to help them get published globally. Now in its third year, the prize has helped authors from all over the continent, with both winners being published in the UK.