Karina Author, Book, Event

Joy Watson in Joburg!

Joburg, you are in for a literary treat of note! Joy Watson will be launching her debut novel, The Other Me, at three different events next week. We hope to see you at at least one of them, if not all!

First up: Exclusive Books Nicolway, Wednesday, 20 July. Joy will be in conversation with author Angela Makholwa.

On Thursday, 21 July, Joy will be at Book Circle Capital and in conversation with media powerhouse and author Joanne Joseph.

Last, but not least, Friday, 22 July: a literary dinner at Tommy’s Bar where you will enjoy a light meal and a discussion between Joy and author/editor Sue Nyathi. Bridge Books and the Heinrich Boell Foundation are co-hosting.

Karina Author, Event, Festival

Open Book Festival Workshop Week: Two Workshops with Life Righting Collective’s Dawn Garisch

The Life Righting Collective has been running powerful workshops for a number of years and those who have attended any of them can attest to their ability to transform how one understands one’s own story. Dawn Garisch will facilitate two full day workshops on the 26th and 27th of July. Please note that these two workshops are not connected. If you would like to attend both, you will need to complete two bookings.

Have a look at other Open Book Festival workshops here: Open Book Workshop Programme

Karina Author, Book, Event

Last night at the Waterfront

Wherever she appears, Joy Watson is surrounded by love – human and literary – and last night’s launch of her novel at EB V&A Waterfront was no different. We were treated to an insightful, funny, moving discussion between Joy and John Maytham.

Joy’s comment on the event: “Last night’s book event at Exclusive Books was small and intimate. It was truly special – filled with all the ‘feels’. I laughed hard – John Maytham is incredibly conducive to raucous laughter. And I cried when Caroline Peters, for whom I have tremendous respect, got up to talk about my feminism and how, many years ago, in lieu of wedding gifts, I asked people to donate to the cause of violence against women. John was incredible as a discussant – bringing to the fore the most pertinent issues in my book. My heart is so full – my support crew was there and long-standing friends turned up to show love and support. I walked from that event feeling so blessed.”

Thank you to Joy and John, and to all the wonderful people who showed up to share the occasion with us.

Karina Author, Book, Event

JULY Woman Zone Book Club with Joy Watson

WZBC

First up we want to hear about the books you’ve been reading. Then we welcome Karina Szczurek, writer, publisher and literary critic, who will be in conversation with Joy Watson about her recently published novel The Other Me, described as funny, dark complex and heartbreaking.
  
Date: Saturday 9 July
Time: 10h00 to 12h00
Venue: Innovation Lounge, 2nd Floor, Artscape (next to the Opera bar)

The WZ Library Hub will be open after the meeting for borrowing and returning of books. 

Now that Covid restrictions have been lifted let’s make this a bumper meeting! 

Donation R30 for refreshments

RSVP: before 7 July hipzone@mweb.co.za
or 082 490 6652

Karina Author, Book, Event

Stephen Symons reading at Karlstad University

Last month, Stephen Symons gave a reading of his poetry in the Karlstad University Library (Sweden) titled “For Everything that is Pointless and Perfect”. Stephen was in conversation with Swedish poet Linus Gårdfeldt, who heads up the Creative Writing programme at Karlstad University.

Stephen Symons has published poetry and short-fiction in journals, magazines and anthologies, locally and internationally. His debut collection, Questions for the Sea (uHlanga, 2016) received an honourable mention for the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry, and was also shortlisted for the 2017 Ingrid Jonker Prize. His unpublished collection Spioenkop was a semi-finalist for the Hudson Prize for Poetry (USA) in 2015. His second collection, Landscapes of Light and Loss (Dryad Press), was published in 2018, and third collection, FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS POINTLESS AND PERFECT (Karavan Press) in 2020. Small Souls, a collection of collected and new poems will be published in 2022 by Karavan Press.

Symons holds a PhD in History (University of Pretoria) and an MA in Creative Writing (University of Cape Town). He is attached to the Department of Historical & Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria as a Mellon Research Fellow.