Traditionally celebrated on the last day of October or in early November, the Day of the Dead is an occasion on which family and friends gather to pay their respects to those who have passed on. This year, we are inviting literary friends and family to celebrate the day with Christy Weyer, Consuelo Roland and Alex Latimer at Liberty Books on 4 November 2025.
Consuelo (The Good Cemetery Guide) and Alex (Love Stories for Ghosts) have both written movingly about the dead, remembering and honouring them as well as celebrating their lives and thus encouraging us readers to celebrate ours, here and beyond.
Day of the Dead themed dressing up is optional (but to be strongly considered). All are welcome to attend this free event! Hope to see you there!
We launched The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown at Liberty Books last night. Andrew always knew that it would be difficult to talk about his latest novel which is set at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but no one could have predicted just how topical the book would become. It was published in time for the Open Book Festival in early September, almost exactly a month before the 7th of October. Since then, the world the novel is set in has once again been completely shattered by violence and suffering. It has become even more fraught to discuss the novel in the context of our tragic present, but the way Christy Weyer and Andrew spoke about it last night was soul-restoring. Thank you both for your kindness, integrity and courage! Thank you for offering insight and gentleness at a time when both are deeply needed.
Thank you to all who attended, but especially to Karavan Press authors Lester Walbrugh and Joanne Hichens for your continued support!
Lester also baked fresh bread (best in the country!) for the occasion, and fittingly, we enjoyed it with olives. Thank you, Lester!
Lester also shared the good news with us that one of his stories from Let It Fall Where It Will has been turned into a short film which will premier in the new year, and that he has finished editing the first Afrikaans book that Karavan Press will publish, a memoir by Erika Viljoen!
Launching The Bitterness of Olives at Liberty Books was the perfect way to end a year of exciting book events. Thank you to Christy for being a champion of local literature, for inviting us to share our stories with the wonderful readers of Elgin and for leading the conversations that make us believe that what we do is meaningful to others.
Dear festive season travellers! If you are on the N2 in Grabouw, stop at Liberty Books for your holiday read fix. You will not regret it!
We launched three short story collections at Liberty Books last night: Diane Awerbuck (Inside your body there are flowers), Dawn Garisch (What Remains) and Frankie Murrey (Everyone Dies) were in conversation with Christy Weyer and spoke about the genre, about their individual stories and about what it means to be a writer. It was a magical treat to listen to the three amazing writers in the beautiful space of Christy’s literary cathedral, Liberty Books. Cleo made an appearance, of course, but decided to stay out of the Q&A action this time.
Thank you to the Authors, to Christy and to all who attended! Can’t wait to see you all again next week for the launch of The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown.
What better way to approach the end of the year in which Karavan Press published several short story collections than with celebrating three of them on one evening at one of the best bookshops in the country (and the world): Liberty Books. Please join Christy Weyer (and Cleo) as she interviews Dawn Garisch, Diane Awerbuck and Frankie Murrey about their exquisite stories on Tuesday, 5 December, 6 to 8PM.
This week, we had the great pleasure of welcoming Nick Mulgrew, currently based in Edinburgh, back in South Africa for the launch of his second novel, Tunnel. Nick visited Liberty Books and The Book Lounge to celebrate his latest offering with readers. Both events were truly special, and I cannot thank Christy Weyer and Alistair Mackay enough for their wonderful launch interviews. Warmest gratitude to the two fabulous bookshops that are homes to writers and readers alike. Also, a huge thank you to Michael Tymbios for designing, not only the stunning cover of Tunnel, but also the matching covers of Nick’s two short story collections, Stations and The First Law of Sadness, which we brought back into print at Karavan Press.
Here are a few visual impressions from the launches:
Liberty Books, 23 May
The Book Lounge, 24 May
Thank you to all readers/friends who joined us on these two occasions! Happy reading!
Delighted to announce that Nick will be in South Africa soon, and we will be launching his new novel, Tunnel, at The Book Lounge and Liberty Books. We hope that you can join us for one, or both (!), of these occasions.
Join us for the Liberty Books launch of Gail Gilbride’s tender, beautiful, empowering memoir of confronting and overcoming a cancer diagnosis.
Gail will be in conversation with Christy, and Cleo (we hope).
Archie (the feline hero of CAT THERAPY) is happy for Gail, Christy and Cleo to take the spotlight for this one. But he is not excluding the possibility of an appearance at a less public celebration of this fabulous book (which is all about him, really).
We are delighted to invite you to the launch of Lester Walbrugh‘s eagerly awaited debut novel, Elton Baatjies. Equally delighted that it is going to take place at Liberty Books in Elgin – Lester will be in conversation with Christy Weyer.
Thank you to Paul Cluver Wines for sponsoring the wine for this special occasion!
We can’t wait to share this hauntingly dark, absolutely stunning novel with Readers.
karavanpress.com 