Karina Author, Book, Literary Award

The JDL Award for Poetry: honourable mention given to Land | Lines by Shari Daya

The inaugural AVBOB competition for collections of poetry, now known as The JDL Award for Poetry in memory of the contribution to the Poetry Project by the late Johann de Lange, took place earlier this year. The inaugural prizes (2025) were awarded for collections in Sepedi, isiZulu and English.

All of the 2024 single poem and 2025 collection winners are listed here: Avbob Poetry

The winner of the English collections category was Unleaving by Ingrid de Kok. Three collections were given ‘honourable mention’, among them Land | Lines by Shari Daya, published by Karavan Press. The other two were Night Transit by PR Anderson and The Book of Unrest by Nick Mulgrew.

Congratulations to all!

You can watch a short video of the prize-giving event that shows the prizes being awarded for individual poems (the 2024 annual online competition) and collection of poems competition here: The 2025 JDL Award for Poetry 

The JDL Award for Poetry in 2026 will go to collections in Afrikaans, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and Sesotho, and in 2027 to collections in Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.

The next competition in Sepedi, isiZulu and English will be run in 2028.

Karina Author, Book, Event

Shari Daya and Megan Hall reading at the Red Wheelbarrow | The Commons

Megan Hall and Shari Daya will be reading to us at The Commons on Wednesday, 4 June at 19:30 SAST.

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 was published by Karavan Press in 2024.

As always, the reading by the featured poet 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.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Date: Wednesday 4 June 2025

Time: 19:30

Venue: The Commons, Surfer’s Corner, Beach Rd, Muizenberg, Cape Town, 7970
phone: 083 799 8294

For more info, including the link to the Red Wheelbarrow complete poetry archive, visit their website. Recordings of the weekly Zoom readings are on their YouTube channel.

Karina Author, Book, Literary Awards

Karavan Press at the HSS Awards 2025

The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences hosted its annual HSS Awards gala last night and we are thrilled to announce that four Karavan Press titles were recognised at the Awards. Congratulations to Anna Stroud, Alex Latimer, Shari Daya and Nick Clelland on your wonderful achievements!

SHORTLISTED TITLES

Land | Lines, Shari Daya in the Best Poetry sub-category.

Good Hope, Nick Clelland in the Best Fiction Novel sub-category.

WINNING TITLES

Who Looks Inside, Anna Stroud in the Best Fiction Emerging Author sub-category.

Love Stories for Ghosts, Alex Latimer in the Best Fiction Short Stories sub-category.

Congratulations to all nominated and winning authors!

Thank you to all who make the HSS Awards possible!

Karina Author, Book, Event

Land | Lines by Shari Daya launched at Exclusive Books Cavendish

We launched Land | Lines by Shari Daya at Exclusive Books Cavendish last night. Shari was in conversation with Nadia Kamies and spoke about inspiration, craft, place, belonging and freedom. She read her poetic prose and poetry and her words filled a stormy Cape evening with warmth and wonder.

Thank you to Shari and Nadia for the beautiful conversation. Thank you to Linda and the Exclusive Books Cavendish team for hosting the event. And thank you to all who attended, especially Shari’s and Karavan Press’s family and friends.

To all who couldn’t make it: EB Cavendish has a few signed copies of Land | Lines …

Happy reading!

Karina Author, Book

Karavan Press title: Land | Lines by Shari Daya

No – listen – I carried on.
Even now, some days, the weight buckles my knees.

“Shari Daya’s poems bring out what she calls ‘the thrill of hot, soft, quiet lives’: beach holidays and household incense, the pains and pleasures of childhood and parenthood and the professional joys of geography, Indian Ocean migration, the anatomy of the cornea, and the special beauty of the Cederberg. Her language is serious, quiet, and sometimes spectacular.” – Imraan Coovadia

“Shari Daya’s Land | Lines is an exquisitely-crafted kaleidoscope of poetry and memoir. Daya’s text – a series of meditations on remembrance, parenting, identity, gardening, the wild freedoms of nature, the joys and dangers of childhood – glows. She brings a sense of wonder to the quotidian that invites the reader to glimpse at her life and, perhaps, see their own lives anew. I loved every gorgeous sentence and saw, as I read it, that rare, precious thing in literature: a Cape Town, both past and present, that I recognised.” – Nadia Davids

“Shari Daya’s debut collection is a tender and moving evocation of the complex intersections of family, ancestry and private spaces. Daya writes with quiet confidence. She cares deeply about every word and image, and this makes the reader care deeply too.” – Kobus Moolman

ISBN: 978-1-7764726-9-7

Publication date: July 2024

About the author:

SHARI DAYA is a geographer and poet from Cape Town. Her poetry and essays explore the intricate and entangled geographies of lineage, place and the body. 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: A Product of the AVBOB Poetry Project. She earned an MA in Creative Writing, with distinction, at the University of Cape Town in 2023.

Land | Lines is her debut poetry collection.