Five of our books are among the fifteen bestselling books at Open Book Festival 2023!
Everyone Dies by Frankie Murrey (Karavan Press)
Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs (Holland House Books, locally distributed by Karavan Press)
The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown (Karavan Press)
Inside your body there are flowers by Diane Awerbuck (Karavan Press)
Striving for Social Equity edited by Joy Watson and Ogochukwu Nzewi (Karavan Press)
Thank you to all who bought a book!
In their latest newsletter, The Book Lounge, wrote the following about Karavan Press:
Karavan Press is a small publishing house owned and run by Karina Szczurek, seriously punching above its weight. We are so grateful to Karina for publishing so many wonderful books that we thought we should shine a light on some of the books she is responsible for that will be featured at Open Book Festival:
Everyone Dies by Frankie Murrey ~ An exquisite debut collection of stories – I will be cajoling Frankie on to the stage to talk about Everyone Dies. – Mervyn
A Crowded Lonely Walk by Sipho Banda ~ In this riveting poetry collection, Sipho Banda delves into the daily happenings of the ubiquitous but anonymous working class, and restores dignity to those whose lived experiences so often go overlooked. – Belinda
Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs ~ Glass Tower is the winner of the inaugural Island Prize for debut fiction from Africa.
Inside your body there are flowers by Diane Awerbuck ~ an incredibly versatile writer who returns to the genre for which she is best known – the short story – in this new collection which is nothing short of superb.
The Bitterness of Olives is set in Gaza and Israel and is Andrew’s finest novel. Empathetic, thought provoking, beautifully written with the pace of a thriller. – Mervyn
Striving for Social Equity edited by Joy Watson and Ogochuku Nzewi ~ an invaluable gathering of voices touching on the very real challenges facing South Africans today.
What Remains by Dawn Garisch ~ new collection of stories from one of our best-loved writers that deals with relationships, ageing and so much more.
Karina will be participating in a discussion about the future of publishing.
The Book Lounge
We are immensely grateful for the encouragement and support! And this is how we will be “punching” at Open Book Festival 2023:
Watch out for Karavan Press authors and Friends (we are lucky distribution partners for Glass Tower by Sarah Isaacs and Cat Therapy by Gail Gilbride):
Book your tickets here:
The first review is in. The book will hit our bookshelves next week!
… It is an unsettling series of stories, as death is, and could be considered a book of poems rather than prose; rare is the paragraph that does not contain an arresting image or original turn of phrase. It is a world in which, refreshingly, expectations are not met:
“My doctor said I should watch my diet and suggested a pacemaker. I ignored him. And my son. Who I knew was hoping to one day have it out with me. I had been avoiding serious conversations with him since he started showing an interest in them at age thirteen. There would no doubt be consequences. And now, hospital-bound, tied to a bed by tubes, I can no longer escape him.” – Extract from ‘She said she was from the future’.
And yes, everyone does die, and not in a climactic Game of Thrones sense, despite the subtitle: A series. The drama here is internal, muted. Often it is not so much that someone – mostly the narrator – dies, as life having escaped, or at the very least been let go of …
Read the entire review here: The Critter
I consider all the words I have access to and finally write ‘help’ and slip it under the door of the empty room, along with a blank page and a pen.
EVERYONE DIES
A SERIES
by FRANKIE MURREY
Late at night, I count down from the scar in my memory to where I am now, to where I will one day be. Four months today. In another six years and eight months, no part of me will have touched any part of you. And then I think, I will be fully recovered. Re-covered. Sometimes while I count, I cry. Very briefly. It means nothing.
Publication date: 8 September 2023
ISBN: 978-1-7764581-3-4
FRANKIE MURREY worked in the book retail sector for many years before becoming the coordinator of Open Book Festival, which takes place every year in early September in Cape Town. In 2015, her work was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She resigned from Open Book Festival at the end of 2019 and started her own company, FM Project Management. Through this company, she has since been curating or managing creative events and projects that align with her interests. She also returned to Open Book in 2022, a space she’d missed intensely. Everyone Dies is her authorial debut.
karavanpress.com 