Karina Author, Book, Event

Shift from Storyteller to Story Seller with Cathy Kelly and the Life Righting Collective

Are you an author about to send your book out into the world? Does the thought of marketing make you cringe?

Then this two-hour online interactive workshop – Shift from Storyteller to Story Seller – is for you. Reframe ‘marketing’ from a blush-worthy grind to an enthusiastic and energised adventure. 

Cathy Kelly, author of Boiling a Frog Slowly, is thrilled to offer it as part of the Life Righting Collective Writer’s Way Series 2. 

This workshop will help you reignite your passion for your story by showing you three practical steps to reimagine your story’s narrative power and find your readers. 

More info: Life Righting Collective

Karina Author, Event

WRITING SHORT with Kerry Hammerton and the Life Righting Collective

Sometimes we have a personal story we want to tell but it feels too large or too overwhelming. What would it mean if you wrote that story as a piece of flash? Join writer and writing facilitator Kerry Hammerton to explore the art of writing flash creative non-fiction/memoir and fiction, or writing short. We will read interesting examples of flash and use them as a stepping stone to generate writing. The workshop will be interactive with a number of exercises and creative ways of exploring writing ideas. You will leave with a number of pieces of writing that you can edit and incorporate into a larger piece of work.

“Writing is a mode of reading is a mode of writing is a mode of thinking is a mode of feeling.” Lance Olsen

For more details see: Life Righting Collective

Karina Author, Book, Event

Poetry Evening next to the fireplace with Sarah Frost, Chantal Stewart and Lucienne Argent

Background photo fragment: Joël de Vriend | Unsplash

Dear Poetry Lovers,

Please join us for an evening of poetry next to the fireplace with Sarah Frost, Chantal Stewart and Lucienne Argent.

Sarah, who recently published her second collection of poetry with Karavan Press – River Fugue – is based in Durban, but she is visiting Cape Town towards the end of the month, and we are using this wonderful opportunity to spend an evening in her company. Together with Chantal Stewart, author of the award-winning novel The Veil of Maya who will be publishing her debut poetry collection with Karavan Press later this year, Let’s Be Legends, and Lucienne Argent, whose debut, Self-Portrait of a Guava, has been warming reader’s hearts since its publication in December last year, Sarah will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek, and all three poets will read from their collections. We will have a lovely fire, snacks and wine will be served, and books will be on sale. Not to be missed!

Limited space. Please RSVP as soon as possible to avoid disappointment: RSVP

We look forward to seeing you on the 31st!

Karina Event

Coffee with Karavan Press – July

You are invited to the third of six planned gatherings this year where you can chat to me, Karina, founder and publisher of Karavan Press, and likeminded writers and readers over a cup of coffee – or tea, of course – about anything related to book-writing-editing-publishing-reading. Karavan Press’s home will be open, and I will be ready to answer your questions and discuss your projects.

No need to RSVP. Just ring the bell between 10AM and 12PM on Saturday, 5 July 2025. Coffee and tea will be served. Karavan Press books will be on sale at great prices.

Karina Author, Book, Event

Feminist Readers Book Club: The Frightened by Lethokuhle Msimang

The chosen book for the next Feminist Readers Book Club read is The Frightened by Lethokuhle Msimang. The book club will meet at The Book Lounge on 25 June 2025, 5.30 for 6PM. Can’t wait!

In this lyrical, fragmented novella, Lethokuhle Msimang uses autobiographical and poetic interventions to lead the reader through landscapes of loss and longing, travelling between France, China, Spain and South Africa, to explore the troubled terrain of leaving and finding home. At once exhilarating, heart-breaking and haunting, The Frightened speaks to the complexity of relationships, the pain of love, the effects of trauma, the necessity and constant work of healing, and the unfulfillable wish to feel a true sense of belonging. It is the story of finding one’s voice amidst inherited violence, and the importance of art and creativity in that process.