Megan Hall and Shari Daya will be reading to us at 6 Spin Street on Wednesday, 28th August at 7 p.m.
Megan Hall won the Ingrid Jonker Prize for her poetry collection Fourth Child (Modjaji Books, 2007). Published in various journals since 1995, her work has been anthologised for schools (Worldscapes, 2005) and for university students (TheNew Century of South African Poetry, 2018), amongst others. She also writes short stories. She lives and works in Cape Town.
Shari Daya is a geographer and poet from Cape Town. Her poetry and essays explore the entangled geographies of lineage, memory, place and the body, and her work has appeared in the literary journals Obsidian, Stanzas, New Contrast and the anthologies Africa! My Africa! and I Wish I’d Said… Vol. 5, from the AVBOB Poetry Project. Shari completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Cape Town in 2023 and her debut collection of poetry and prose, Land | Lines, has been recently published by Karavan Press this year.
As always, the reading by the featured poet(s) will be followed by an open mic session for poets from the audience. Poets are welcome to read from their own work as well as from the work of a favourite poet.
Please note that 6 Spin Street offers a cash bar. We look forward to seeing you there!
Date: Wednesday, 28th August 2024 Time: 19:00 Venue: 6 Spin Street Restaurant Gallery, 6 Spin Street, Church Square, Cape Town
Open Book Festival 2024 is taking place between 6 and 8 September and we can’t wait to share stories, exchange ideas, talk about writing, engage with readers and have tons of literary fun.
Two new South African novels explore the ghosts of our past – and future
How much can we learn from alternative histories – and futures? That question was top of mind when I interviewed authors Karen Jennings and Nick Clelland about their new novels set in a counterfactual Cape Town.
Karavan Press and uHlanga are proud to announce the release of Dayspring, a memoir by the renowned South African-English poet and novelist C. J. Driver, edited and with a foreword by Nobel Prize-winning author J. M. Coetzee. The book releases on 1 July 2024 in South Africa.
Dayspring is a recollection of Driver’s South African youth – his childhood as a reverend’s son in Kroonstad and Grahamstown-Makhanda preceding his extraordinary student years at the University of Cape Town, during which he edited the student newspaper Varsity and became enmeshed in radical student politics.
As president of the anti-apartheid National Union of South African Students, Driver was detained by the security police, tortured and imprisoned in solitary confinement in Cape Town. Even after fleeing to England, Driver remained a bête-noire for the apartheid authorities, with ex-president B. J. Vorster keeping personal notes on Driver’s activities.
But all that comes later in his life. Dayspring is a tender and deeply personal book, offering an intimate picture of a family coming to terms with the losses of the Second World War. It is the story of a father and son recognising their differing beliefs, and of a young man navigating the joys and pitfalls of romance. As a direct descendant of the 1820 Settlers, Driver examines the contradictory beliefs and institutions of the South Africa he grew up in – particularly its boarding schools – with unique insight and humour.
Throughout the reader discovers the moments of inspiration, failure and literary exchange that were crucial to the development of Driver’s fiction, celebrated internationally during his lifetime, as well as his poetry, which, even before his death in 2023, has been lauded as one of the most significant bodies of work by a modern South African poet.
In Dayspring, we are witness to the formation of a sensitive, incisive intellect; someone who did not simply engage with the world through literature, but faced up to it, too. This is an extraordinary book.
Publishers: Karavan Press and uHlanga
ISBN: 978-1-7764726-3-5
Releases 1 July 2024 in South Africa ONLY
Foreword by J. M. Coetzee; afterword by Dominic Driver, Dax Driver and Tamlyn Driver
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.
The Kingsmead Book Fair took place yesterday – a day of gorgeous weather, glorious encounters and the most amazing exchanges of stories. Literary fun has been had! The programme this year was so rich that the one persistent comment throughout the day was “I wish I could have attended all the other sessions!”
Anna Stroud made her literary debut as a novelist with Who Looks Inside. She has a bright literary career ahead of her, and it is such a privilege to publish her debut novel and to see her shine on this stage. The official launch of the book will take place at Love Books on 19 June. She will be in conversation with Michael Boyd.
Other session highlights in photographs:
The short story panel was a joy:
“Make a virtue out of your quirk!” – Diane Awerbuck
“Genius is not a constant thing.” – Frankie Murrey
In the Green Room and around Kingsmead grounds:
Personal highlights:
Thank you to everyone who makes this annual event possible, especially Alex Bouche and the KBF Team, Kingsmead College, Standard Bank, Timberland and Exclusive Books! #KBF24
Thank you to Mike and Family for hosting me, to Khalida and Dawn for the photos, and to all the other Writers for their generosity of sharing – stories and kindness!
John Maytham speaks to Nick Clelland about his debut novel, Good Hope – the book is about an alternative present-day Cape Town that is the capital of a new independent country.
Comic Con was first held in 1970 in San Diego, California as an exhibition of comic books. Today, Comic Con is international event, celebrating popular culture, film, comics, fantasy novels, anime, art and storytelling in its multiple forms. Comic Con Cape Town and Comic Con Africa (Johannesburg) are now annual events.
With one of the Jawas from the deserts of Tatooine – Star Wars.
Comic Con Cape Town also hosts the Animation Festival, where visual storytellers are upskilled by international and local animators, story board artists, producers, screenwriters and filmmakers.
A Fremen – Dune.The Mandolorian.
Comic Con brings gamers, writers, actors, dancers, publishers, illustrators and artists together to gather, learn and share. Merchandisers, artists, animation schools and book sellers display and sell creative wares. I saw a stand selling the most accurate replicas of light sabers I’ve ever seen.
This year, I was invited to participate at Comic Con Cape Town as an exhibitor with the Romance Writers Organisation of South Africa (ROSA). As a member of ROSA, I assisted other members who were hosting the ROSA stand next to the main stage. Writers, readers, fans and publishers stopped to buy books or discuss reading and the craft of writing. I displayed my books, Shadow Flicker, A Fractured Land and The Pool Guy. I am so proud of the beautiful physical books that my publisher, Karavan Press, created for my stories. The Cape Town City Library stand was nearby, on the other side of Artist’s Alley, so I and the other ROSA writers enjoyed meeting them and discussing strategies to raise up readers and writers together through libraries and author events. The ROSA stand was coincidentally at the gathering point for the daily Cosplay competition. (Cosplay is costume play – a form of performance art where fans dress up as their favourite popular culture character.) We had a close-up view of Vikings, superheroes, a Fremen (from Dune) in a Stillsuit, and children’s cartoons characters. Captain America had to sit down to take a break after a lengthy round of selfies with fans. A writer came to the aid of one cosplayer who found the confines of a heavy costume caused overheating. Perhaps there’s inspiration for a fictional meet cute there?
The resting Captain America.
My favourite were the many Mandolorians. I admire the storytelling techniques of the streaming series. If you’ve not yet watched The Mandolorian, it’s a Sci Fi tale set in space, with the atmosphere and some tropes of an old Western. Of the two main characters, one speaks, but the audience (almost) never sees his face. The other character never speaks but communicates with facial expressions. It’s delightful. And clever.
Comic Con Cape Town is bright and busy, loud and energetic, a diverse mix of creative people, from geeks to gamers, who love stories and characters. It’s a crowded, frenetic celebration of storytelling in its multiple formats.
I am Weird Barbie from the movie. My daughters and niece are K Pop Band G-Idle.
Deidre, the “compelling”, in Hedley Twidle’s words, protagonist of Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings, had her first official outing in her hometown, Cape Town, last night at The Book Lounge. The bookshop was filled with writers and readers who wished Deidre – this broken, fascinating, difficult character – well. “She is horrific,” the author said about her creation, “but I loved writing her.” And she emphasised that no matter how difficult certain aspect of the novel are to read, Crooked Seeds is her love song for South Africa, a country she cares about deeply: “I am in awe of our resilience, and the people who are saving communities, caring for others, despite all the failures of the officials.”
“She is a word surgeon,” Mervyn said of Karen in the introduction to the evening. She is indeed. And Dr Karen Jennings is also a hermit by her own admission, finding “all my writing a never-ending hell. At some point in my life,” she said, “I must have signed a contract with the devil. I asked to be a writer, and I was granted the wish, but I did not read the small print, which said: you will be a writer, but you will be in agony from now on.” Agony and all, she hasn’t lost her humour. And her exquisite writing is a precious gift to our literary world.
Thank you, Karen, for writing another incisive, stunning novel and for being the wonderful person you are. Thank you to Hedley and The Book Lounge team for all the incredible support. To all who were there: mountains of gratitude!
Dear Readers, May Deidre make you feel, and think about our own fragility and brokenness. She is impossible to ignore …
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