Karina Author, Book, Event, Festival

Poetry in McGregor 2021

The first Poetry in McGregor Festival Karavan Press poets participated in at a group event and it was a total success. Because of his academic commitments which took him to Pretoria this past weekend, Stephen Symons could not be with us, but John Maytham kindly agreed to read from Stephen’s poetry collections, FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS POINTLESS AND PERFECT and Small Souls (a very limited special edition of his latest poems, not for sale, but the poems included will feature in Stephen’s forthcoming Selected Poems). Dawn Garisch and Justin Fox answered a few general questions about their poetry and read from their own collections, Disturbance and Beat Routes respectively, and it was obvious from the reactions of the audience that I am not the only one in love with the way these three poets craft words into art. Thank you to everyone who attended and who asked questions and bought books! We are grateful for the enthusiasm and generosity with which we have been received.

The rest of the festival was an immersion in words. ‘You are a river that cannot be denied,’ Malika Ndlovu began her reading at the festival with this line and reminded us that ‘love is persistently at work’, that ‘in my heart it is harvest time’, that ‘we are found’ – and so it felt, the bounty and the homecoming we experienced at the feast of poetry that was Poetry in McGregor this weekend.

During his performance of a script that Finuala Dowling compiled for him during lockdown, “Ice Cream, Thank You”, John Maytham quoted the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski: ‘praise the mutilated world’. The last twenty months have brought many of us to our knees, or worse. To be celebrating the written word among poets in front of live audiences was truly healing.

Poetry is ‘necessary’, Lara Kirsten said during her reading. Thank goodness there are so many fine poets who hold this truth close to their hearts and share it with us so abundantly.

It was also a joy to tell one of the young poets attending that it will be an honour to publish (hopefully, in the near future) the stunning poetry manuscript she had shared with me earlier this year. I hope that she will be reading from her debut collection at the next Poetry in McGregor Festival. Watch this space!

Thank you to all who make Poetry in McGregor possible! You are all ‘necessary’ and I am deeply grateful.

Literary greetings, Karina

Karina Author, Book, Event

Book launch: THE POOL GUY by Melissa A. Volker

Spa manager Lauren runs a professional space, so when Wyatt, the pool cleaner, brings down the tone with his languorous manner and sketchy dress code, she loses her cool. Instead of being intimidated, Wyatt is captivated and tries to chip through her armour of hair gel and makeup to find the real Lauren inside. But he is reluctant to reveal too much of himself, and when Lauren finds out who he really is, the pool guy is in for the swim of his life.

Every time I read this story, it makes me happy! It is the holiday we all need.
See you at the launch.
Love, 
Karina
Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: Boiling a Frog Slowly by Cathy Park Kelly

The perfect match. Or so she thinks.

Her warmth and empathy. His charisma and ambition.

Yet, Cathy feels safer teaching battle-scarred gangsters in a prison classroom than at home with her own partner.

By day she walks on eggshells. At night she sleeps on the backseat of her car. Her safe place is an all-night roadhouse; her best friend, her journal.

The slow boil intensifies until, one day, Cathy finds her grandmother’s armoire smashed to pieces in her bedroom, a hammer on the floor, her life in splinters beside it.

Part memoir, part inspiration, Boiling a Frog Slowly is unflinching in its confrontation of abuse and utterly courageous in its portrayal of redemption.

 A story of loving, hurting, and healing – a gripping reminder that courage comes from within. Always.

– Tracy Going

A tale of insidious abuse told with heart-breaking honesty and humility. The triumphant ending is truly uplifting.

– Sue Nyathi

Publication date: November 2021

ISBN: 978-0-620-96482-1

Kindle edition: Boiling a Frog Slowly by Cathy Park Kelly

CATHY PARK KELLY is a writer who lives with her husband and son in a sunny valley in Cape Town.

She has a BA (Hons) in Applied Linguistics and has had non-fiction essays and short stories published in several South African magazines and anthologies. Her first book, Inside Outside, a memoir of teaching juvenile offenders awaiting trial, was quoted extensively by the (then) South African Minister of Correctional Services in a speech. This is the closest she has come to Parliament.

She loves how stories can crack open doors and offer seams of light in the dark.

Karina Author

Author: Cathy Park Kelly

CATHY PARK KELLY is a writer who lives with her husband and son in a sunny valley in Cape Town.

She has a BA (Hons) in Applied Linguistics and has had non-fiction essays and short stories published in several South African magazines and anthologies. Her first book, Inside Outside, a memoir of teaching juvenile offenders awaiting trial, was quoted extensively by the (then) South African Minister of Correctional Services in a speech. This is the closest she has come to Parliament.

She loves how stories can crack open doors and offer seams of light in the dark.

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: THE POOL GUY by Melissa A. Volker

Spa manager Lauren runs a professional space, so when Wyatt, the pool cleaner, brings down the tone with his languorous manner and sketchy dress code, she loses her cool. Instead of being intimidated, Wyatt is captivated and tries to chip through her armour of hair gel and makeup to find the real Lauren inside. But he is reluctant to reveal too much of himself, and when Lauren finds out who he really is, the pool guy is in for the swim of his life.

Hotel. Spa. Pool. Summer. Sea. Romance.

This book is the holiday you need.

– QARNITA LOXTON

ISBN: 978-0-620-96484-5

Publication date: November 2021

MELISSA A. VOLKER is a reader, writer, beauty therapist and water woman. She lives in Cape Town with her husband, two daughters and a cat. She blogs about surfing and stand-up paddleboarding; writes eco-fiction, romance and short stories. Her first eco-romantic thriller, A Fractured Land, was published in the US in 2018 and was republished along with her second novel, Shadow Flicker, by Karavan Press in South Africa in 2019. Shadow Flicker won the Romance Writers Organisation of South Africa’s Strelitzia Award for the most promising manuscript in 2017. Melissa’s short story, ‘Spa Ritual’, was published in Hair: Weaving and Unpicking Stories of Identity. The Pool Guy is her first novelette.