Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: Lone Wolf Living by Werner Pretorius

LONE WOLF LIVING

by Werner Pretorius

illustrated by Dawn Bolton

Introducing Lone Wolf Living™

Sign up for the programme today and your life will be instantly more rewarding and less miserable. Take a look at our Platinum Package starring James Bond, who, as it turns out, is from Pretoria West, and Bernie de Villiers, who is falling in love with all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. Our Gold Package offers UFOs over Jansenville and sinister nightly encounters in Cape Town. Don’t miss the exodus to Mars or get stuck at an outpost left to fend for yourself while, on a distant planet, betrayals and a betrothal take place. Buy now and avoid disappointment!

Werner Pretorius lands with this collection of lost loves and eerie worlds. Broken hearts and peril combine in these stories that scratch beneath the surface of the mundane to find the crawling things that keep us up at night.

About the author

WERNER PRETORIUS holds degrees in Publishing and English from the University of Pretoria and a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. His stories and short fiction have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Lone Wolf Living is his first collection. He lives and works in Cape Town.

About the illustrator

DAWN BOLTON is a multi-faceted creative working in various media. She is a skilled jeweller, hand-crafting items in metals and recycled plastics. Her visual art language includes painting, pencil and ink drawing, and embroidery. This is her first collection of digital drawings.

Publication date: September 2025

ISBN: 978-1-0370-9172-8

Karina Author

Author: Werner Pretorius

Werner Pretorius holds degrees in Publishing and English from the University of Pretoria and a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. His stories and short fiction have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Lone Wolf Living is his first collection. He lives and works in Cape Town.

Author photograph by Barend Botha

Karina Author, Book, Prize

CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa shortlist announced!

The shortlist for the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa — honouring the publishers who bring bold, brilliant African stories to the world — has been announced and we are thrilled that Thobeka Yose’s In Silence My Heart Speaks is among the selected titles. Congratulations to all shortlisted authors and publishers!

Thobeka, literary love and gratitude for the grace, courage and compassion with which you have shared your story with readers!


Meet all five unforgettable books chosen by the judging panel, chaired by Prof. Egara Kabaji:
 
• ‘No Pink in a Rainbow’ by Angel Patricks Amegbe, published by Masobe Books – A profound meditation on loss and the enduring power of quiet love, beautifully crafted both in prose and in print.
• ‘Dear Zimi’ by Chiziterem Chijioke, published by Quramo Publishing – A tender, courageous story of motherhood and resilience, positioning Chijioke as a significant voice in contemporary African literature.
• ‘The Comrade’s Wife’ by Barbara Boswell, published by Jacana Media – A bold, emotionally honest narrative that confronts personal and political betrayal in post-apartheid South Africa with feminist clarity.
• ‘Broken: Not a Halal Love Story’ by Fatima Bala, published by Masobe Books – A moving exploration of faith, identity, and forbidden love, balancing personal truth with spiritual devotion.
• ‘In Silence My Heart Speaks’ by Thobeka Yose, published by Karavan Press – A luminous memoir tackling mental health, abuse, betrayal, and sexual identity with honesty and defiance.
 
The winner will be revealed at CANEX@IATF2025 in Algiers, Algeria (4–10 September 2025) – the ultimate gathering for Africa’s creative industries.
 
Whether you’re a reader, writer, or culture lover, these books belong on your list.

Karina Author, Book, Event

The one thing that will sell your story … by Cathy Park Kelly

Wonderful advice by Cathy Park Kelly, author of Boiling a Frog Slowly:

I only went to the monthly literary event, a conversation between author James Whyle, author of We Two from Heaven, and John Maytham, a local radio personality, at our local library because I had to.

I’m on the Friends of Fish Hoek Library committee and we were on duty one recent wintery Saturday morning.

The blurb of the book had done the opposite of grab me – words on the back like ‘palimpsest’ and ‘four-part fugue’ had convinced me it was not my kind of book. It sounded like hard work to read, and too ‘literary’ to enjoy.

But the interview with the author, James Whyle, by resonant-voiced and insightful John Maytham, convinced me otherwise. Whyle’s responses to the questions were sometimes rambling, sometimes off-beat, but always candid and thought-provoking. And so I bought the book.

Continue reading: “The one thing that will sell your story …”

Karina Author, Book, Festival

Prince Albert Leesfees 2025

It is time for the Prince Albert Leefees again (29-31 August 2025) and we are delighted that Andrew Robert Wilson features on the programme with his debut novel, The Fourth Boy, which is partly set in Prince Albert and the surroundings.

He will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek on Saturday, 30 August, 9:00-9:40AM.

Full festival programme:

Karina Author, Book, Event, Interview

The Book Revue with Frankie Murrey

Our first book event with the wonderful Pippa Smith of The Book Revue will be taking place next Wednesday at 11.30AM in the Christchurch Constantia Hall and will feature Frankie Murrey with her second collection of stories, A Collection of Gaps, published in a limited box edition. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Open Book Festival. You don’t want to miss this special celebration!

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: A Collection of Gaps by Frankie Murrey

There’s this moon in the sky. And I want to say – not now,
moon, I’ve got work to do. But you know the moon. She never
listens. So I sit and watch her for a while. Admire those curves.
Whisper secrets and cigarette smoke love.

— from ‘Letter to the Night’

A COLLECTION OF GAPS

by FRANKIE MURREY

ISBN (Box Edition): 978-1-0370-9173-5

Publication date: 12 August 2025

FRANKIE MURREY worked in the book retail sector for many years before becoming the coordinator of Open Book Festival, which takes place every year in early September in Cape Town. In 2015, her work was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She resigned from Open Book Festival at the end of 2019 and started her own company, FM Project Management. Through this company, she has since been curating or managing creative events and projects that align with her interests. She also returned to Open Book in 2022, a space she’d missed intensely. She won the HSS Award for Best Emerging Author in the Fiction Category for her authorial debut, Everyone Dies, in 2024. A Collection of Gaps is her second volume of stories and will be first published in a special, limited edition as a box containing stories and other treasures. 

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards

The 2025 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists announced

The Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists have been announced and we are delighted that they feature five Karavan Press titles. Congratulations to all longlisted authors!

Thank you to all who make these awards possible!

Mountains of gratitude to Karavan Press authors on the lists:

FICTION
Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings (co-published with Holland House Books)
Who Looks Inside by Anna Stroud
Good Hope by Nick Clelland

NON-FICTION
In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose
Dayspring by C. J. Driver (co-published with uHlanga Press)

For all details, see: Sunday Times Literary Awards