Tiger is the result of the inaugural Karavan Stories Workshop & Anthology project. 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 you are holding in your hands took shape.
The theme was inspired by a news story that dominated the headlines early this year: an eight-year-old tigress named Sheba escaped from a private farm in Gauteng and in the following days attacked a man and killed a few domestic animals before she was shot by officials. As it was impossible to safely contain and capture the wild feline in the area where she was eventually found, the decision was taken to euthanise her. Sheba’s death renewed debates around the injustice and cruelty inflicted on exotic animals held in captivity.
Touched by Sheba’s story, we chose her kind to inspire Tiger. 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 run wild. The stories which emerged interpret ‘tiger’ as the unknown, untamed or foreign in our lives – what we fear and what we long for, sometimes simultaneously. The authors play with phrases like ‘tiger mom’ and ‘when tigers smoked’ – the evocative Korean equivalent of ‘once upon a time’ – as well as wrestle with ideas, states and emotions which refuse to be captured in words. In their stories, they retrieve familiar fables and fairy tales to interpret the complexities of the present and speculate about the future …
Contributors: Lucienne Argent, ChatGPT, Gail Gilbride, Kerry Hammerton, Anna Hug, Desiree-Anne Martin, Karen Martin, Michelle A. Meyer, Warren Jeremy Rourke, Anita Shapiro, Caitlin Spring, Alexandra Wood
ISBN: 978-1-7764726-0-4
Publication date: December 2023
I would like to thank all contributing authors for embarking on this journey with Karavan Press: like the creature that inspired them, your stories purr, claw and pounce. A big thank you to Monique Cleghorn for the exquisite design of our anthology.
To our readers: enjoy!
Karina M. Szczurek
Cape Town, 2023
karavanpress.com 