Following the enormous success of last year’s “Surf’s Up” reading by local surfer-authors-poets, Salon Hecate at the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery is returning with another fabulous line-up of surf literature the first Tuesday evening in June. We’ll be launching the re-issue of Byron Loker’s short story collection, New Swell, and getting a teaser taste of his brand-new collection, Heavy Water, forthcoming from Karavan Press. Byron is one of “Nature’s gentlemen”, a surfer who never drops in and shares not only the backline, but the limelight. He asked if others could get on board too, so … check out the entire line-up here:
Please join us at the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery on 4 June, 5.30 for 6. Entrance is free, but PLEASE RSVP by 1 June at the latest. Otherwise we run the risk *gasp* of running out of wine. Small snacks provided.
Got a question about this event or interested in a particular piece you’ve seen at Noordhoek Art Point? Get in touch at info@noordhoekartpoint.co.za or call 0835642493.
BYRON LOKER has been called by fellow South African man of letters, Ben Trovato, ‘a talented writer who could go far if only he’d give up surfing and chasing women.’ He was once a film student but is now fully rehabilitated. His literary hero is Ernest Hemingway, as you can probably tell by these staccato sentences. He lives in the ‘deep south’ of the Cape Peninsula with a very sweet ginger tabby cat named Georgie Love and a pile of regrets, chief among them being all the women who got away from him. In early 2024, Karavan Press published a new edition of Byron’s debut short story collection, New Swell, and will publish his new, Heavy Water, later this year.
Some stories can glue you to the page because of what they say, others because of how they say it. Byron Loker’s stories do both. His tales will ring true for all South Africans who have ever surfed, or sat with an old railway man or a car guard or domestic workers. Loker has a clear eye on ordinary daily life. He is funny most of the time, but often very poignant too, in these beautifully crafted stories.
Prescribed for English Literature Study Short Stories Grade 9 – Western Cape Education Department
Publisher (this edition): Karavan Press (first published by Double Storey Books, a division of Juta & Co. Ltd 2006)
ISBN: 978-1-7764064-2-5
Publication date: January 2024
Praise for New Swell
‘… modern-day South African Beat, easy to read, sharply observed, engaging, sad, but also very funny’ – Surfers’ Path
‘If the flat naturalism recalls Hemingway, other stories, in their deliberately straight-faced contemplation of horrors, recall Bosman’ – Sunday Independent
‘… wit engaged with the human condition at a deeper level of meaning’ – Sunday Times
‘… stories different from anything that has been written in English in South Africa – they are fresh, honest, off the wall but simultaneously clear moments of everyday life. At the same time they owe much in tone and style to the work of Herman Charles Bosman without being in any way imitative. It is as if the short story tradition, which was interrupted by the dictates of apartheid, has been resumed’ – Mike Nicol
‘Stories with a light touch which has the effect, as such touches at best can do, of dredging up certain shadows or resonances that go on resonating … very affecting – and stylistically – sure-footed to a fault’ – Stephen Watson
‘… a particularly gifted and dedicated writer’ – André Brink
Author photograph by Nic Mayger
BYRON LOKER has been called by fellow South African man of letters, Ben Trovato, ‘a talented writer who could go far if only he’d give up surfing and chasing women.’ He was once a film student but is now fully rehabilitated. His literary hero is Ernest Hemingway, as you can probably tell by these staccato sentences. He lives in the ‘deep south’ of the Cape Peninsula with a very sweet ginger tabby cat named Georgie Love and a pile of regrets, chief among them being all the women who got away from him.
June is World Ocean Month, and to celebrate the sea and beaches integral to South Peninsula life (and so beautifully represented on the walls of the gallery), Salon Hecate at the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery is presenting something different this coming month: surfer-poets. What better way to celebrate the sea than by hearing from those who spend their spare time in and on the waves? So we’ve invited some fabulous surfers, sailors, and stand-up paddlers who also happen to be published authors to come and read their poems and passages about the sea.
Who’s reading?
You’ll hear from surfer-poets Justin Fox, Byron Loker, Stephen Symons and Melissa Volker. There may be one or two more surprise performers (there are quite a few creative surfers – or should that be surfing creatives? – in the ‘hood). We’ll keep you updated.
Justin Fox travels (and writes about it) for a living. The former editor of Getaway Magazine, he has published over twenty books, ranging from fiction to photography to art to children’s books to poetry, but always returning to the ocean horizon. He still finds time to surf and sail.
Byron Loker is a freelance writer and filmmaker, with a Masters in Creative Writing from UCT. His prescribed collection of short stories, New Swell, explores the corners of our local neighbourhood and celebrates his love of surfing.
Stephen Symons is a poet, academic, historian, graphic designer, husband and father (not necessarily in that order), who has won national and international awards for his poems and published research. He writes about his many passions, including surfing and the sea.
Melissa (Missy) Volker is an author, beautician, SUP prizewinner and surfer, who takes pride in teaching her daughters to stand up for themselves in the backline. This from her publisher’s website: “Melissa found a way to obsess about surfing – by obsessing about writing about surfing! A mid-life blooming writer and water woman, Melissa’s delicious fiction blends ‘surf noir’ with ‘environmental romance suspense.’”
Newsflash: we’ve just heard that Glen Thompson, local surf historian who looks at “the role of black surfers and female surfers in shaping today’s wavescape” will be joining us too. Not to be missed!
Date and time
Please join us at the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery on 5 June, 5.30 for 6. Entrance is free, we’re always prepared for loadshedding, and there will be a glass of wine to warm you.
Surf Therapy collections
We’ll be collecting gently used wetsuits, swimwear, reef booties, rash vests, boogie boards and even towels on the night, so please look around for any gear you’re no longer using. These will be handed over to volunteers from the Roxy Davis Foundation, an NPO that provides surf therapy for children with disabilities. Read more about the inspiring work they do here: roxydavisfoundation.org/surf-therapy
Got a question about this event or interested in a particular piece you’ve seen at the gallery? Get in touch with us at info@noordhoekartpoint.co.za or call 0835642493.
karavanpress.com 