Karina Author, Book, Event

Melissa A. Volker reports from Comic Con Cape Town 2024

My books on display at the ROSA stand.

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.

Karina Author, Book, Event

Salon Hecate’s 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday, Salon Hecate!

Last night, writers, readers and other creatives descended on Noordhoek Art Point to celebrate Salon Hecate’s 1st Birthday. It has been a year of inspiring artistic gatherings. Thank you to Helen Moffett and the Art Point team for everything that you are doing for the community! We all look forward to many more years of Salon Hecate.

Karina Author, Event

Surf’s up at Salon Hecate in June

Photo by Stephen Symons

June is World Ocean Month, and to celebrate the sea and beaches integral to South Peninsula life (and so beautifully represented on the walls of the gallery), Salon Hecate at the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery is presenting something different this coming month: surfer-poets. What better way to celebrate the sea than by hearing from those who spend their spare time in and on the waves? So we’ve invited some fabulous surfers, sailors, and stand-up paddlers who also happen to be published authors to come and read their poems and passages about the sea.

Who’s reading?

You’ll hear from surfer-poets Justin Fox, Byron Loker, Stephen Symons and Melissa Volker. There may be one or two more surprise performers (there are quite a few creative surfers – or should that be surfing creatives? – in the ‘hood). We’ll keep you updated.

Justin Fox travels (and writes about it) for a living. The former editor of Getaway Magazine, he has published over twenty books, ranging from fiction to photography to art to children’s books to poetry, but always returning to the ocean horizon. He still finds time to surf and sail.

Byron Loker is a freelance writer and filmmaker, with a Masters in Creative Writing from UCT. His prescribed collection of short stories, New Swell, explores the corners of our local neighbourhood and celebrates his love of surfing.

Stephen Symons is a poet, academic, historian, graphic designer, husband and father (not necessarily in that order), who has won national and international awards for his poems and published research. He writes about his many passions, including surfing and the sea.

Melissa (Missy) Volker is an author, beautician, SUP prizewinner and surfer, who takes pride in teaching her daughters to stand up for themselves in the backline. This from her publisher’s website: “Melissa found a way to obsess about surfing – by obsessing about writing about surfing! A mid-life blooming writer and water woman, Melissa’s delicious fiction blends ‘surf noir’ with ‘environmental romance suspense.’”

Newsflash: we’ve just heard that Glen Thompson, local surf historian who looks at “the role of black surfers and female surfers in shaping today’s wavescape” will be joining us too. Not to be missed!

Date and time

Please join us at the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery on 5 June, 5.30 for 6. Entrance is free, we’re always prepared for loadshedding, and there will be a glass of wine to warm you.

Surf Therapy collections

We’ll be collecting gently used wetsuits, swimwear, reef booties, rash vests, boogie boards and even towels on the night, so please look around for any gear you’re no longer using. These will be handed over to volunteers from the Roxy Davis Foundation, an NPO that provides surf therapy for children with disabilities. Read more about the inspiring work they do here: roxydavisfoundation.org/surf-therapy

Got a question about this event or interested in a particular piece you’ve seen at the gallery? Get in touch with us at info@noordhoekartpoint.co.za or call 0835642493.
Karina Author, Book, Interview

Dropping In to Power: Sheila Gallien interviews Melissa A. Volker

Listen to the podcast here:

‘Melissa Volker found a way to obsess about surfing in any conditions – by obsessing about writing about surfing! A mid-life blooming writer and water woman from South Africa, Melissa’s delicious fiction blends “surf noir” with “environmental romance suspense.” (Check out the addictive Shadow Flicker!) In our pod, we chat about the coastal topography and bathymetry of South Africa’s breaks (get out your pencils) and she indulges my obsession with South African sharks. (Did you know you can get a gig as a Shark Spotter in Cape Town?) The South African waters are wild and intimidating, and though she grew up learning to paddle on flat water in an estuary, the ocean felt menacing to her well into her 40s. She still considers herself one of the most frightened surfers in her lineup, but she has braved sharks, orcas (!!!) and kilometers of open water on paddleboards, SUP’s and longboards. She credits a community group focused on supporting women for getting her off the beach and into the lineup. She also finds inspiration, and courage, in books and courses on surfing, the ocean, and, yes, sharks. Recognizing how her own life has transformed from surfing, feeling “older, but stronger, happier, braver, and stoked” she created Saltwater Sisters with her BFF to share their love and stoke and to empower other women to experience the joy they have found themselves. Melissa wraps up with one of my fave pieces of advice so far: “Get to know the ocean, because not every day is your day.”’

Dropping In to Power
Karina Author, Book, Event

Salon Hecate launched at Noordhoek Art Point

SALON HECATE was launched Noordhoek Art Point last night. Art lovers from across the peninsula gathered to celebrate the new space which will welcome readings, book signings and discussions throughout 2023 and beyond.

Thank you to the gallery and Helen Moffett for welcoming writers into this exciting place of co-existence between the visual arts and literature.

Melissa A. Volker and Stephen Symons, among others, read from their works and I read from one of the stories included in Let It Fall Where It Will by Lester Walbrugh because Lester was baking Grabouw Bread between insane bouts of loadshedding and could not make it to the launch (it was an honour to step into his literary shoes for a few minutes).

Karina Author, Book, Event

Karavan Press authors talk about love and relationships at the UJW’s Stonehaven

Last week, Joy Watson, Cathy Park Kelly and Melissa A. Volker spoke to Karina M. Szczurek about love and relationships in their lives and writing at the beautiful Stonehaven, the home of the Union of Jewish Women (UJW). Thank you to the UJW for hosting, thank you to the authors for their insights and laughter, and to everyone who attended with such generosity of spirit. A beautiful evening!

Thank you, Bernie Shelly, for being there and for sharing a few photographs with us!