Secrets and other stories at Blown Away by Books

Please join us for another Blown Away by Books event at the Fish Hoek Library on 18 April 2026, at 9.30AM – this year celebrating Secrets, the latest Karavan Stories anthology (2025) and the stories that have flown into and from the project. Secrets contributors Lucienne Argent, Christine Coates, Máire Fisher, Michelle A. Meyer, Helen Nevin, Joëlle Searle and Jana van Niekerk will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek about the anthology and their other writings. Now in its fourth year, the Karavan Stories project has gathered a wonderful community of writers who have continued writing and collaborating together. Come and be inspired by their remarkable stories, those already written and those in the making!

SECRETS: Karavan Stories 2025

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

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.
We chose the theme for the anthology – secrets – within the group. Contributors could work with it 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 ‘secrets’ in wonderfully intriguing ways, inviting us to turn the pages with curiosity, anticipation and, occasionally, with a sinking feeling of dread.
I would like to thank all contributing authors for embarking on this journey with Karavan Press: your stories confirm something about local authors that has never really been a secret – you rock! A big thank you to Monique Cleghorn and Stephen Symons for the stunning design of our anthology. To our readers: enjoy!

Karina M. Szczurek
Cape Town, December 2025

Contributors: Lucienne Argent, Zubayr Charles, Christine Coates, Máire Fisher, Nina Geraghty, Rob Glenister, Merle Levin, Michelle A. Meyer, Firdose Moonda, Helen Nevin, Joëlle Searle, Jana van Niekerk

ISBN: 978-1-0492-2960-7

Publication date: December 2025