Karina Author, Book

TEMPERATURE: Karavan Stories 2024

Temperature is the result of the Karavan Stories Workshop & Anthology project, now in its second year.

Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All the contributors gathered for a writing workshop at the end of April. Together, we discussed the intricacies of the short story, went through several writing exercises, decided on a theme for our anthology and began exploring ideas for individual stories. In the following months, we kept in touch, drafting and redrafting, until the book took shape.

The theme – temperature – was inspired by global and intimate, personal developments. Climate change continues to dominate our weather and news cycles. Heated international debates require cool and collected thinking for the sake of all our futures around the world. It has been an exceptionally difficult year for many – what allows us to survive, and thrive, is the warmth and kindness of our connections. Temperature is testimony to this simple truth.

Contributors could work with the theme in any way they wished, either reimagine it, see it as a springboard or a metaphor, or let their imaginations soar. The stories which emerged interpret ‘temperature’ in the most innovative ways, but they have one thing in common: hot off the press, they inspire reflections on interdependence – between individuals, communities and continents, as well as between humanity and our environment.

I would like to thank all contributing authors for embarking on this journey with Karavan Press: your stories are a cooling balm for a scorching reality. A big thank you to Monique Cleghorn for the exquisite design of our anthology. To our readers: enjoy!

Karina M. Szczurek
Cape Town, December 2024

Contributors: Sue Brown, Christine Coates, Gail Gilbride, Kerry Hammerton, Karen Horn, Karin Lijnes, Ciaran R. Maidwell, Firdose Moonda, Consuelo Roland, Anne Schlebusch, Joëlle Searle, Philisiwe Twijnstra, Alexandra Wood

Cover artwork: Hannes Meiring

Publisher: Karavan Press

Publication date: December 2024

ISBN: 978-1-0672224-3-7

The book will be available in all good bookshops in the new year. Please contact Karavan Press directly if you would like to get copies of the book earlier.

Karina Author, Book

New edition of award-winning The Veil of Maya by Chantal Stewart

We are delighted to announce that Karavan Press is publishing a new edition of Chantal Stewart‘s highly acclaimed, award-winning novel, The Veil of Maya.

WINNER OF THE 2023 NIHSS BEST FICTION NOVEL AWARD & THE 2024 UCT BOOK AWARD

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lena Brown, a geneticist who spends her days in Cape Town comfortably engrossed in laboratory work, receives a call to investigate an outbreak of madness amongst a group of men in a small town in rural Swaziland. She is excited to revisit the place of her childhood holidays. However, she does not realise how this journey will change her, challenging her beliefs and her perceptions of the world.

The novel is both a medical mystery and love story. Just before leaving Cape Town, Lena meets the charismatic astronomer Gabriel Powell, and finds herself attracted to the mystery which she senses within him. Circumstances intervene which force her to confront issues of trust and deception, secrets and loss.

The Veil of Maya slips between the worlds of Cape Town, Sutherland, Swaziland and England. At its core is a powerful story of love and life.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

A story that moves seamlessly through the world of stars, science and different cultures.

– Gail Gilbride Bohle, author of Under the African Sun and Cat Therapy

CHANTAL STEWART is a medical doctor, author and poet. She works fulltime in a government hospital and in her spare time facilitates creative writing workshops. She has published poetry and short stories in Women Flashing (2006), Writing the Self (2008), Twist (2006), and Stanzas (2021, 2023). She lives with her husband and two dogs.

See also: UCT Staff Awards

Publisher: Karavan Press

(First edition published by Minimal Press in 2022)

Publication date: December 2024

ISBN: 978-1-0370-2186-2

The book will be available in all good bookshops in the new year.

Karina Author, Book, Event

Self-portrait of a Guava launched at Kalk Bay Books

We launched Lucienne Argent‘s debut poetry collection, Self-portrait of a Guava, at Kalk Bay Books last night. How lovely to welcome this fresh, beautiful new voice into the local book community! Lucienne was in conversations with Finuala Dowling, her mentor of many years. Thank you both for a wonderful evening of poetic celebrations!

And thank you to everyone who miraculously managed to get through the gridlocked traffic to join us for the occasion. It was a magical evening.

Thank you to Kalk Bay Books for hosting the event, and to John Maytham for the wine!

Karina Uncategorized

16 Days of Activism

As we mark the start of the international campaign, 16 Days of Activism, an initiative opposing violence against women and children, we would like to share a remarkable novel with local readers: The Memory of the Air by Caroline Lamarche.

Published in English translation by Héloïse Press in the UK in 2022, the autobiographical novel is a sophisticated and introspective narrative about a toxic relationship. As the narrator shares with us her memories of a past relationship, we discover the small details hidden behind psychological abuse until we are led to witness and understand a major traumatic event in her life.

The Memory of the Air was the book that put Héloïse Press on the literary map for me. Exquisitely written, profound and deeply empowering, the text itself is testimony to survival, and the possibility of beauty after trauma. It is a book that brings understanding and solace. It is an honour to be able to share it now with South African readers.

The headlines in my inbox this morning were devastating, as always, when we confront GBV:

16 Days of Activism: How the state continues to fail women

The story: Monday marks the start of the international campaign, 16 Days of Activism, an initiative opposing violence against women and children. 

The stats: In the first quarter of the current financial year, 93 women were killed, 212 were victims of attempted murder, and 704 reported being raped.

What’s more: An in-depth probe by the Public Protector found that the justice and social development departments, as well as the police, did not put adequate measures in place to effectively protect victims of gender-based violence.

Where so many institutions fail us, literature often offers a space for comprehension, empathy and healing. Sharing stories helps us to make sense of the unspeakable, to reimagine a future beyond hurt.

Please read Dawn Garisch’s review of: The Memory of the Air by Caroline Lamarche. Dawn’s novel, Breaking Milk, was published by Héloïse Press in the UK.

‘Héloïse Press champions world-wide female talent. Héloïse’s careful selection of books gives voice to emerging and well-established female writers from home and abroad. With a focus on intimate, visceral and powerful narratives, Héloïse Press brings together women’s stories and literary sophistication.’ — Aina Marti, Founder

In this respect, Karavan Press shares a common vision with Héloïse Press and it is a privilege to be giving a platform to the stories we are passionate about.

Last year, at the time of 16 Days of Activism, we launched a new edition of Tracy Going‘s powerful memoir, Brutal Legacy. We will continue publishing stories that expose and challenge GBV, and that empower survivors.

Thank you to all the authors, for the stories you tell, for your courage and inspiration, and for allowing us all to envisage a different future!

Karina Author, Book, Review

Dawn Garisch reviews The Memory of the Air by Caroline Lamarche

Words are never sufficient, there comes a time when the body naturally takes over, so to speak. (73)

In the introduction, British academic Dr Dominique Versini describes Belgian author Caroline Lamarche’s book as semi-autobiographical. She alerts us that the text concerns rape, and commends Lamarche for her contribution to the subject.

So we enter the story knowing that this specific form of violence will be / has been committed. By whom? Where? How? This replicates the chronic uncertainty many women experience, aware of the prevalence of rape, and that it is frequently committed by someone familiar.

In the opening chapter, the protagonist dreams of a dead woman lying in a gully. This dream body compels the author, in tandem with the reader, to make the regular and dangerous descent, visiting her and what she stands for in order to care for her and to understand her. She is both dead and alive, both old and young, she is dead yet no longer disempowered.

The rest of the book is the slow uncovering of the story within the story.

Early on, we meet the last man she loved, whom she calls Man-fore (man before what? is a question that haunts the reading); much of the book dwells on the complexities of this relationship as the story spirals in towards several disparate yet related events and their aftermath. This exploration includes how one might recount the story of trauma, and to whom; how that story is received, interpreted, and then used for or against the person describing what happened. Both the police and someone close to her use details of her narrative against her; the reader might also find themselves weighing up the contributing factors in her account − even as the protagonist makes herself extremely vulnerable in the telling − thereby deciding how and where our empathy might land.

Writing is a form of witnessing; through this practice, the writer might uncover the depths of their own experience, thus supporting her quest for meaning and for finding some resolution. A reader, following the author’s process, could also come to a new understanding.

Lamarche’s book did that for me. Her skill in using understatement and stream of consciousness, together with evocative images, has left me with much to ponder after a powerful emotive experience, despite her relatively unemotive language. I am reminded of Annie Ernaux’s work.

The final scene in the book makes an analogy that is shocking and perceptive, expanding our understanding of the author’s narrative. As a writer, reader, and woman, I found this book original, compelling and thought-provoking.

The Memory of the Air by Caroline Lamarche (Héloïse Press)

Karina Author, Book, Distribution

Karavan Press is the local distribution partner for THE MEMORY OF THE AIR by Caroline Lamarche (Héloïse Press)

THE MEMORY OF THE AIR

CAROLINE LAMARCHE

From the winner of the Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle

English PEN Award

The autobiographical The Memory of the Air is a sophisticated and introspective narrative about a toxic relationship. As the narrator shares with us her memories of a past relationship, we discover the small details hidden behind psychological abuse until we are led to witness and understand a major traumatic event in her life.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“As a writer, reader, and woman, I found this book original, compelling and thought-provoking.” Dawn Garisch, author

“A nuanced, beguiling, haunting and deep exploration of the impact of male violence. A beautifully written portrait of a woman trying to reclaim selfhood through storytelling. I haven’t read anything else quite like it. It will stay with me.” Marisa Bate, journalist

“Like a spider, Manfore is a predator who has her trapped in his web, but the narrator is also like the spider, a beautiful woman who has spun a web and who sits at the centre of her story.” Shara Kronmal, Necessary Fiction

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caroline Lamarche (Liège, 1955) is one of the most important contemporary Belgian authors. She studied Romance Studies at the University of Liège. Her debut novel Le jour du chien (Minuit, 1996) received the Prix Rossel. She is the author of fourteen novels and six short story collections, including Nous sommes à la lisière (Gallimard, 2019) which received the prestigious Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Katherine Gregor is a full-time literary translator from Italian and French. She was on the Premio Straga Jury in 2020. Her translation credits include Stefanis Auci’s The Florios of Sicily (HarperVia), MarionBrunet’s Summer of Reckoning (Bitter Lemon), Donato Carrisi’s Into the Labyrinth (Little, Brown), and Sylvain Tesson’s Berenzina (Europa Editions).

South African distribution partner: Karavan Press

Publisher: Héloïse Press

Publication date: October 2022

ISBN: 978-1-7397515-2-4

If you are a bookseller, please contact BOOKSITE to order copies of The Memory of the Air. If you are a reader, please ask your local bookshop to order the book for you via Booksite.

Karina Author, Book, Event, Literary Award, Prize

Celebration!

Please join us at The Book Lounge for a celebration of Andrew Brown’s The Bitterness of Olives, winner of the 2024 Sunday Times Fiction Prize.

The Book Lounge is where the story of the publication of this novel with Karavan Press began (join us for the celebration to hear the details) and where the book was officially launched in October last year. Since its publications, The Bitterness of Olives has been offering its readers a deeply empathetic insight into a turbulent history that continues to tragically unfold in front of our eyes. Earlier this month, the bestselling novel has been recognised with the prestigious Sunday Times Fiction Prize.

The Sunday Times Fiction Prize judges called it a “contemporaneous, daring, complex and aesthetically pleasing novel”.

It will be a great joy to celebrate this exquisite book and its wonderful author at the bookshop where it all started!

We hope to see you all there!