Karina Author, Book, Distribution, Literary Awards

Karavan Press in 2025

Twenty new titles, several prize nominations, three wins, a big move and an abundance of stories to tell – that in a nutshell was 2025. And what a ride it has been; again! No wonder my body is telling me to rest. And I am about to, but before I put my keyboard away for a month of restoring my well-being, I would like to celebrate the highlights of the publishing year that is coming to an end …

PRIZE NOMINATIONS

Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings longlisted for the Women’s Prize

Land | Lines by Shari Daya and Good Hope by Nick Clelland shortlisted for the HSS Awards

In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose, Good Hope by Nick Clelland and Who Looks Inside by Anna Stroud longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Awards

Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings shortlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Awards

Who Looks Inside shortlisted for the UJ Debut Prize

The JDL Award for Poetry: honourable mention given to Land | Lines by Shari Daya

Good Hope by Nick Clelland shortlisted for the SALA Novel Award

A Collection of Gaps by Frankie Murrey and Lone Wolf Living by Werner Pretorius shortlisted for The Book Lounge’s Book of the Year Award

WINS

Who Looks Inside by Anna Stroud won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Emerging Author 

Love Stories for Ghosts by Alex Latimer won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Short Stories

Karavan Press won the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa for In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose

IN OTHER GOOD NEWS

Mannequin Pictures optioned Good Hope by Nick Clelland

Ice Shock by Elleke Boehmer has been picked up by Valley Press and will be published in the UK next year

NEW TITLES OF 2025

Among these is our first boox (the book that is a box) – Frankie Murrey’s stunning new collection of short stories which we published in a limited, special edition – as a box containing stories and other treasures: A Collection of Gaps. 

Ek’t Act by Klara du Plessis, a collection of exquisite poetry, is our first book written in Afrikaans and English.

And I am thrilled that we are continuing with two story projects: IN OTHER STORIES edited by Kerry Hammerton, now in its second year, and KARAVAN STORIES Workshop & Anthology, now in its third year, are both thriving.

ALL ABOUT PHILIPPI

One of the greatest honours for Stephen Symons and me this year was to assist Andrew Brown with the publication of this incredible book: All About Philippi

Towards the end of 2024, Andrew visited iThemba Labantu Primary School in the crime-stricken area of Philippi, Cape Town, to talk to the Grade 7 learners about creative writing. To welcome him, the learners prepared short pieces on how they experienced life as a child growing up amidst poverty and violence. These are their unedited writings. At their request, some names have been changed and some withheld. This publication is distributed for free and aims to highlight the extraordinary trauma that our youth are exposed to every day, and their resilience and determination to express themselves nonetheless.

Andrew will be speaking about this remarkable book at the Cape Flats Book Festival 2026. Not to be missed! You can get a free copy of All About Philippi at The Book Lounge.

INDEED BOOKS

Recognising a need for a carefully curated platform where self-published authors can find a home, Kerry Hammerton and I started INDEED BOOKS. Our first three titles:

COFFEE WITH KARAVAN PRESS

A new tradition began at Casa Karavan this year: I hosted five Coffees with Karavan Press – Saturday mornings when readers and writers gathered at my home to chat about their books, the publishing journey and their favourite reads. I loved every one of these mornings and will continue hosting them in 2026.

THE BIG MOVE

Karavan Press had to change distributors this year and we are thrilled that we have now successfully moved to our new distribution partner – BOOKSITE.

All Karavan Press and Indeed Books titles can be ordered by booksellers via Booksite now. Together, we also continue bringing the titles we assist in distributing in South Africa to our local readers.

It has been an astounding year. Despite and because of its many challenges, Karavan Press was forced to grow and restructure and find new ways of being in the world. Not all of it went smoothly, and I have dropped many balls in the process and could not deliver on all my promises this year, but I am not giving up – and I hope that some waits are worth it.

I would like to thank EVERYONE who makes Karavan Press possible – the journey so far has surpassed all my expectations and my wildest dreams. I would like to especially thank the authors who have been waiting patiently for me to deliver on my promises. (The good thing about having to put my keyboard away is that I can finally tackle the pile of manuscripts that has been waiting to be read for a very looooooong time …)

It is time for rest, for Festive Season and holiday reading, and for another amazing year for Karavan Press, Indeed Books and our Friends!

Happy reading and writing!

Karina Author, Book, Literary Award, Literary Awards

Nick Clelland’s GOOD HOPE shortlisted for the SALA Novel Award

The 20th edition of the South African Literary Awards is set to take place on 11 November 2025 at the Roodepoort Theatre and Museum and we are delighted to announce that Nick Clelland’s Good Hope has been shortlisted for the Novel Award. Congratulations, Nick and all other shortlisted authors!

Read the official press release: SALA Announces the 2025 Shortlisted Nominees

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

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards

Karavan Press at the HSS Awards 2025

The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences hosted its annual HSS Awards gala last night and we are thrilled to announce that four Karavan Press titles were recognised at the Awards. Congratulations to Anna Stroud, Alex Latimer, Shari Daya and Nick Clelland on your wonderful achievements!

SHORTLISTED TITLES

Land | Lines, Shari Daya in the Best Poetry sub-category.

Good Hope, Nick Clelland in the Best Fiction Novel sub-category.

WINNING TITLES

Who Looks Inside, Anna Stroud in the Best Fiction Emerging Author sub-category.

Love Stories for Ghosts, Alex Latimer in the Best Fiction Short Stories sub-category.

Congratulations to all nominated and winning authors!

Thank you to all who make the HSS Awards possible!

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards

Dawn Garisch wins the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award for her collection, What Remains

We are delighted to announce that Dawn Garisch won SALA‘s Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award 2024 for her collection, What Remains! This is the second prestigious award for What Remains. It also won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Short Stories earlier this year. Congratulations Dawn and What Remains!

The Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award is one of the South African Literature Awards (SALA). This year, two other Karavan Press titles featured on the SALA shortlists: Sipho Banda’s A Crowded Lonely Walk was nominated for the Poetry Award, and Diane Awerbuck’s Inside your body there are flowers was also nominated for Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award. Congratulations to all nominated writers and books! And thank you, Dawn, Sipho and Diane for your amazing contributions to short story writing and poetry.

For the full announcement of this year’s SALA winners, please see: “SALA announces 2024 winners” (LitNet)

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards, Prize

The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown wins the 2024 Sunday Times Fiction Prize

We are thrilled to announce that The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown won the 2024 Sunday Times Fiction Prize. The judges called it a “contemporaneous, daring, complex and aesthetically pleasing novel”. Congratulations, Andrew! And thank you – for writing, for sharing this story with your readers, for publishing it with Karavan Press.

‘Why can you not be friends anymore?’

It was the story of his country, he supposed. Perhaps they could have been friends. Perhaps they were once. The reasons were complex, full of feeling, disappointment, resentment. And, of course, betrayal. This was the Middle East after all.

Avi Dahan, a retired detective mourning his beloved wife in Tel Aviv, and Khalid Mansour, a Palestinian doctor confronting the precarious reality of living in Gaza City, are still reeling from the political fallout that jeopardised their delicate friendship. When a mysterious corpse scarred by history and forbidden love shows up in Khalid’s emergency room, he reaches out to Avi for help. Though the detective is the only one who might be able to assist, he is the last person on earth to agree …

The stage is set for Andrew Brown’s unforgettable new novel, The Bitterness of Olives.

Did it really matter? In the face of chaos, was it important how she had died? That was the guidance he needed from Avi now. He needed to understand that question: did it matter anymore? Was it of any significance, how you died in a war?

ISBN: 978-1-7764581-2-7

Kindle: The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown

ANDREW BROWN is an advocate and a sergeant in the saps reserves and police liaison officer for the Child Protection Unit at Red Cross Children’s Hospital. He is the author of two non-fiction books and five novels, including Coldsleep Lullaby, winner of the Sunday Times Prize for Fiction in 2006, and Refuge, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Literature (Africa Region) in 2009. Street Blues: The Experiences of a Reluctant Policeman was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award the same year. Andrew’s books are published in Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. He has three children and lives in Cape Town.

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards, Prize

The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize

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.

Read the full press release here: Sunday Times

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards

The 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards Fiction longlist

The 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists have been announced on Sunday, and the Fiction Prize longlist features four Karavan Press titles as well as one title we distribute locally:

Congratulations to Mike, Andrew, Sarah, Nick, Lethu and all other longlisted Authors!

FICTION PRIZE

This is the 21st year of the Sunday Times fiction prize. The criteria stipulate that the winning novel should be one of “rare imagination and style … a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction”.

JUDGES

Siphiwo Mahala – Chair

Mahala is an award-winning author, playwright and academic, with a PhD in English Literature. He is the author of the novel, When a Man Cries (2007), two short story collections, African Delights and Red Apple Dreams and Other Stories, and two critically acclaimed plays, The House of Truth and Bloke and His American Bantu. His latest book Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi (2022), won the Creative Non-Fiction Award at the SA Literary Awards. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, Senior Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and editor of Imbiza Journal for African Writing.

Michele Magwood

In her long career Magwood has worked in radio, magazines and television and for 20 years was the Books Editor of the Sunday Times. She is the winner of two Mondi awards and the SALA award for literary journalism. A sought-after interviewer at book festivals, she currently works as a writer and editor and assesses manuscripts for publishers. She writes a books column for Business Day Wanted magazine. Magwood has a BA Honours degree from UKZN.

Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele

Cele is an experienced doctor with a demonstrated history of working in the pharmaceutical & health care industry. She is skilled in clinical skills, quality patient care, analytical skills, communication, and medicine. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery – MBBCH focused in Medicine from University of the Witwatersrand and a postgraduate diploma (cum laude) in medicine development at University of Stellenbosch. She is also the co-founder of The Cheeky Natives, a literary podcast primarily focused on the review, curatorship and archiving of black literature. In 2019, she was named one of the Mandela Washington Fellows to undertake a prestigious fellowship in the United States. She was also named one of the Mail & Guardian’s top 200 Young South Africans in 2019.

Karina Literary Award, Literary Awards

Karavan Press at the HSS Awards 2024

The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) announced the winners of the 9th Annual Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Book, Creative Collection, and Digital Contribution Awards last night.

It gives me great pleasure to share the news that Dawn Garisch won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Short Stories for her collection, What Remains. And Frankie Murrey won the HSS Award for Best Emerging Author in the Fiction Category for her debut, Everyone Dies.

Congratulations,

Dawn and Frankie!

FLUID: The Freedom to Be, edited by Joanne Hichens and me won in the Best Fiction Edited Volume category! To say that we are delighted would be the understatement of the year. The Short.Sharp.Stories anthology was published by Tattoo Press and is distributed by Karavan Press. Thank you, Joanne, for inviting me to be part of this wonderful project! It is an honour to call myself your wingwoman.

Congratulations to all other winners! We are thrilled to be in your company.

Thank you to the NIHSS for recognising and celebrating our work.

Cheers to the Short Story!