Karina Author, Book, Festival

Prince Albert Leesfees 2025

It is time for the Prince Albert Leefees again (29-31 August 2025) and we are delighted that Andrew Robert Wilson features on the programme with his debut novel, The Fourth Boy, which is partly set in Prince Albert and the surroundings.

He will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek on Saturday, 30 August, 9:00-9:40AM.

Full festival programme:

Karina Author, Book, Event

Poetry Evening next to the fireplace with Sarah Frost, Chantal Stewart and Lucienne Argent

Background photo fragment: Joël de Vriend | Unsplash

Dear Poetry Lovers,

Please join us for an evening of poetry next to the fireplace with Sarah Frost, Chantal Stewart and Lucienne Argent.

Sarah, who recently published her second collection of poetry with Karavan Press – River Fugue – is based in Durban, but she is visiting Cape Town towards the end of the month, and we are using this wonderful opportunity to spend an evening in her company. Together with Chantal Stewart, author of the award-winning novel The Veil of Maya who will be publishing her debut poetry collection with Karavan Press later this year, Let’s Be Legends, and Lucienne Argent, whose debut, Self-Portrait of a Guava, has been warming reader’s hearts since its publication in December last year, Sarah will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek, and all three poets will read from their collections. We will have a lovely fire, snacks and wine will be served, and books will be on sale. Not to be missed!

Limited space. Please RSVP as soon as possible to avoid disappointment: RSVP

We look forward to seeing you on the 31st!

Karina Author, Book, Festival

24 May: Karavan Press at the KBF

The literary festival season continues and we are delighted to announce that the following Karavan Press authors will be participating in the Kingsmead Book Fair this year:

09:30-10:00 DOT TO DOT | The Book Room

Meet the Freckolions and the Spots who are bitterly arguing over Face’s vast landscape. Then one day an alien craft descends on Face and sends the Freckolions and Spots into panic! SA actress Lisa Trudoux introduces her first charming and quirky children’s book Dot To Dot which teaches kids the invaluable lessons of self-love and kindness towards others in the most enchanting way.

09:30-10:30 WRITING OUR PAIN: Contending with traumatic narratives | Chapel

Sewela Langeni (Making Friends with Feelings) provides a safe space for Jeffrey Rakabe (Led by Shepherds) and Thobeka Yose (In Silence My Heart Speaks) to chat about transferring pain to the page.

11:00-12:00 PRETTY PROTAGONISTS: Crafting heroines with humanity | Mackenzie 1

Amy Heydenrych (Chasing Marian) examines the creation of the powerful women at the centre of the works of Zukiswa Wanner (Love Marry Kill), Michelle Kekana (The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women) and Qarnita Loxton (What’s Wrong with June?).

12:30-13:30 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: People and place in historical fiction | Lange Hall

Penny Haw (Follow Me To Africa: A Novel), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Creation of Half-Broken People) and Louisa Treger (The Paris Muse) discuss facets of historical fiction – beyond the period in which it’s set – that really matter with Michael Boyd (Weight of Shade).

12:30-13:30 Life is the greatest teacher: Writing from experience | Music Centre

Merle Levin (World According to Merle: Memoir of a Deliciously Daring Granny), Costa Ayiotis (Matriarchs, Meze and the Evil Eye: A Memoir) and Glenn Orsmond (Crash and Burn: A CEO’s Crazy Adventures in the SA Airline Industry) tell Karina Szczurek (Karavan Press) about their weird uncles and the strange lady from the office.

14:30-15:30 LITERARY FITION VERSUS GENRE FICTION: What makes a book ‘literary’? | Chapel

Peter-Adrian Altini (Salt Water Pool Boy) and Charl-Pierre Naudé (The Equality of Shadows) discuss style and complexity with Craig Higginson (The Ghost of Sam Webster).

16:00-17:00 Navigating our life stories: Lessons learned and unlearned | Lange Hall

Khaya Dlanga (Life is Like That Sometimes) and Gavin Evans (Son of a Preacher Man) tell Anna Stroud (Who Looks Inside) about what they have learned while writing about themselves.

16:00-17:00 Stretching the imagination: Pushing boundaries in storytelling | Mackenzie 3

Onke Mazibuko (Canary) follows Nick Clelland (Good Hope), Siya Khumalo (The Queer Book of Revelation) and Sam Wilson (The First Murder on Mars) into the detailed, fresh worlds of their books.

16:00-17:00 Publish or perish: Women in the publishing industry | Chapel

Queen bees Karina Szczurek (Karavan Press), Melinda Ferguson (Melinda Ferguson Books) and Zukiswa Wanner (Paivapo Publishing) underline the importance of curating stories from a feminine perspective with Sewela Langeni (Book Circle Capital).

Full programme: KBF 2025

Get your KBF tickets here: Webtickets

Karina Festival

Karavan Press Literary Festival 2025

We are delighted to announce that the fourth KARAVAN PRESS LITERARY FESTIVAL is going to take place on Saturday, 12 April 2025, at the wonderful South African Centre for the Netherlands and Flanders – SASNEV – 4 Central Square, Pinelands, Cape Town, 7405. Thank you to Eureka Barnard and the Staff of SASNEV for hosting us!

As part of the festival, Penny Haw, winner of the 2024 Philida Literary Award, will deliver the André Brink Memorial Lecture – 6 February 2025 was the 10th anniversary of André’s death, and on 29 May 2025, he would have turned 90. We will remember and celebrate together!

Also as part of the festival, Qarnita Loxton and Amy Heydenrych are offering a Creative Writing Workshop. For all details, please see below.

EVENT 1 09:30-10:15  LIFE AND LAUGHTER

Diane Awerbuck, Lisa Tredoux and Gail Gilbride speak to Nick Clelland about how to use humour in literature across the genres to address important themes that are not necessarily always funny.

EVENT 2 10:30-11:15  FINDING ONESELF

Sarah Isaacs, Anna Stroud, Kharys Ateh Laue and Lester Walbrugh talk to John Maytham about their young characters’ search for who they are and how they want to be in the world when the world is unwilling to cooperate.

COFFEE / TEA BREAK

EVENT 3 12:00-12:45  SECOND CHANCES

“Sometimes the only thing you can do to change is to leave.” (Qarnita Loxton)

Amy Heydenrych, Stephen Symons & Alex Latimer talk to Karina M. Szczurek about their characters’ opportunities for change.

EVENT 4 13:00-13:45 

ANDRÉ BRINK MEMORIAL LECTURE

“Influences and Legacies” – PENNY HAW, winner of the 2024 Philida Literary Award

FREE ENTRY TO ALL EVENTS AT SASNEV!

~ ~ ~

WORKSHOP 15:30-17:30

6 Banksia Road, Rosebank, 7700 Cape Town

(Please note change of venue for the workshop!)

OPENING THE DOOR TO YOUR STORY 

Join authors and collaborators – QARNITA LOXTON and AMY HEYDENRYCH – for an intimate, nurturing creative writing workshop. Get to the heart of your story, uncover the theme of your writing project and work through any potential blocks to your creative writing process in a quiet, encouraging setting.

Snacks and drinks will be served.

The workshop is open to writers of all levels, including beginners. Only 10 spots available. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

To book your spot for the workshop, please contact Karina: karavanpressfestival@outlook.com

WORKSHOP FEE R300

Books will be available for sale at great prices throughout the festival!

Karina Interview

Love Letter: A refuge for books – Karin Schimke interviews Karina Szczurek

Books are asylum

To say that Karina Szczurek finds refuge in books is to understate the matter. Books held her together through dispossession, flight and years of being a refugee. Certain books have travelled with her across three continents and four countries, through languages, and through love and loss.

For a long time, her mornings have begun with books – two to three hours of reading before the day begins. She has written, studied, translated and edited books.

Now she publishes them. The story of her publishing house – which has published a long string of disparate and often unusual books, and has accumulated several prizes in just six years of existence – is also a story of refuge …

Continue reading:

LOVE LETTER by Karin Schimke