‘I am excited by the diversity of writing that is in the anthology, and the variety of stories. There are themes around birth, relationships, our society and death. There are African fables, historical pieces, endings and beginnings, humour and satire, surrealism.’
— Kerry Hammerton
Contributors
Rachel May Ferriman | Sarah Buchner | Megan Kay Rossouw | Máire Fisher | Karina M. Szczurek | Kerry Hammerton | Michelle A. Meyer | Jana van Niekerk | Jen Thorpe | Nontobeko Mtshali | Anna Hug | Karen Jennings | Chantal Stewart | Bongani Kona | Siphosethu Siwaphiwe Zazela | Stephen Symons | Michael Boyd | Limor Kay | Melissa Sussens | Sahra Ryklief | Anne Schlebusch | Tiisetso Tlelima | Petros Isaakidis
We are heading to Richmond again at the end of this month and hoping that many readers from across the country will follow. It is time for the Madibaland @ BookBedonnerd Literary Festival! Taking place between 30 October and 1 November, the festival brings together a wonderful mix of writers and readers.
Among the participants are Karavan Press authors Chantal Stewart, Kerry Hammerton and Holland House Books’ Andile Cele, whose wonderful debut novel, Braids & Migraines, we help distribute in South Africa.
Sometimes we have a personal story we want to tell but it feels too large or too overwhelming. What would it mean if you wrote that story as a piece of flash? Join writer and writing facilitator Kerry Hammerton to explore the art of writing flash creative non-fiction/memoir and fiction, or writing short. We will read interesting examples of flash and use them as a stepping stone to generate writing. The workshop will be interactive with a number of exercises and creative ways of exploring writing ideas. You will leave with a number of pieces of writing that you can edit and incorporate into a larger piece of work.
“Writing is a mode of reading is a mode of writing is a mode of thinking is a mode of feeling.” Lance Olsen
The Open Book Workshop Week is nearly upon us again and it promises to be another round of amazing literary engagements. Karavan Press is participating throughout the week. Please join us!
The FLF is just around the corner and we are looking forward to another unforgettable bookish experience. Please join the following Karavan Press authors and Friends for a series of exciting events and workshops throughout the festival weekend:
Kerry Hammerton, editor of In Other Stories, will be running a few flash workshops this year. Participating authors will have an opportunity to submit their work to her second anthology of flashes.
The first of these takes place on Saturday, 1 February 2025, at the Cape Flats Book Festival and is FREE!
A wonderful opportunity to engage with the form and to attend a great book festival taking place at the same time! The anthology Kerry is compiling will be published by Karavan Press.
The first book festival of 2025 is just around the corner – Cape Flats Book Festival – and we are delighted to announce the following events featuring Karavan Press authors:
SATURDAY, 1 February, 10:45-11:25 | IN OTHER STORIES
SATURDAY, 1 February, 11:40-12:20 | STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN
SATURDAY, 1 February, 12:35-13:15 | COURAGEOUS SURVIVORS: OVERCOMING A TRAUMATIC PAST
SATURDAY, 1 February, 15:20-16:00 | TRIBUTE TO POET IN EXILE: ATHOL WILLIAMS
Lester Walbrugh will also be at the Festival, speaking about the book he co-wrote with Karin Kortje – not to be missed!
SUNDAY, 2 February, 12:45-13:25 | DIE HELE STORIE / THE WHOLE STORY
Temperature is the result of the Karavan Stories Workshop & Anthology project, now in its second year.
Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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 took shape.
The theme – temperature – was inspired by global and intimate, personal developments. Climate change continues to dominate our weather and news cycles. Heated international debates require cool and collected thinking for the sake of all our futures around the world. It has been an exceptionally difficult year for many – what allows us to survive, and thrive, is the warmth and kindness of our connections. Temperature is testimony to this simple truth.
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 soar. The stories which emerged interpret ‘temperature’ in the most innovative ways, but they have one thing in common: hot off the press, they inspire reflections on interdependence – between individuals, communities and continents, as well as between humanity and our environment.
I would like to thank all contributing authors for embarking on this journey with Karavan Press: your stories are a cooling balm for a scorching reality. A big thank you to Monique Cleghorn for the exquisite design of our anthology. To our readers: enjoy!
Karina M. Szczurek Cape Town, December 2024
Contributors: Sue Brown, Christine Coates, Gail Gilbride, Kerry Hammerton, Karen Horn, Karin Lijnes, Ciaran R. Maidwell, Firdose Moonda, Consuelo Roland, Anne Schlebusch, Joëlle Searle, Philisiwe Twijnstra, Alexandra Wood
Cover artwork: Hannes Meiring
Publisher: Karavan Press
Publication date: December 2024
ISBN: 978-1-0672224-3-7
The book will be available in all good bookshops in the new year.Please contact Karavan Press directly if you would like to get copies of the book earlier.
karavanpress.com 