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!
In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose – officially: Queen Thobeka – was launched at Woman Zone as part of the Artscape Women’s Humanity Festival yesterday. Thobeka was in conversation with Nancy Richards, who has been a champion of Thobeka’s memoir from the start when she first met this courageous woman and heard her remarkable story.
Yesterday’s launch interview was followed by a deeply moving Q&A during which other women praised Thobeka, her book, and shared their own stories of becoming, resilience and power. It was an honour to be present and to listen. We all went away inspired.
Thank you, Queen Thobeka, for your strength, wisdom and willingness to be vulnerable and to open up spaces for vital conversations. Thank you to Nancy for all the encouragement and support, and for leading the conversation. To Woman Zone – deepest gratitude for championing women’s lives & stories. And to Artscape for hosting. Thank you to all who attended and made this occasion beyond special!
Note Thobeka’s shoes! Definitely the most fabulous launch shoes in Karavan Press book launch history! Fitting for a Queen!
You can listen to the launch conversation here:
“Can we truly celebrate 30 years of democracy when so many women and children are still prevented from freely and fairly exercising their right to democracy, freedom, equality and above all, humanity?” These words from Marlene le Roux, CEO of Artscape the Theatre Centre, sum up the thinking behind this year’s Artscape Women’s Humanity Festival (AWHF), planned in association with Woman Zone for Women’s Month. — LitNet
Together with the AWHF and Woman Zone, we will be launching Thobeka Yose‘s inspirational memoir, In Silence My Heart Speaks, during the AWHF. Thobeka will be in conversation with Nancy Richards, who has accompanied Thobeka on her writing journey from the beginning and who wrote a beautiful foreword to the book:
Writing your own story, I imagine, must be like running barefoot. Whatever the ground texture, you are going to feel it intensely. But you have to finish. At the end of her ‘run’, I suspect, Thobeka Yose may have had sore soles, not only from reliving her own story, but that of her mother. Neither of them easy journeys.
When I first met Thobeka at a group workshop with Ntsiki Sigege at the Artscape Resource Centre back in 2016, she, like everyone else, shared a bit about herself. It was clear she’d introspected long and hard on her situation. But instead of shying away from the issues, she’d obviously decided to confront and interrogate them, both from her own perspective and those of others whose actions had had such impact on her.
I suggested she write it down as a way, perhaps, of making sense of it and getting it off her chest. The workshop over, richer for the shared experiences, we all went our separate ways.
A few short months later, I was amazed to get an email from Thobeka saying, ‘I took your advice and wrote! My manuscript is with a publisher as we speak.’ …
It is truly special for us to be launching this stunning book at Artscape and with Woman Zone – spaces that nurture and support women’s creativity and make dreams come true. And how fitting that it is during August and the AWHF. Please join us for this wonderful occasion on Saturday, 17 August, at 10:30 a.m.
Full programme of the Festival: AWHF
About the memoir:
I show my scars now with pride because I survived. This is me owning my story, all of it, the good and the bad.
A searing and brave memoir chronicling the author’s resilience, compassion and growth as she moves from a childhood of trauma, through the challenges of dealing with the early loss of her beloved husband and becoming a single parent as well as subsequently accompanying her child on a difficult journey of self-discovery, to a life of acceptance and forgiveness. Thobeka Yose confronts the taboos surrounding mental health, abuse, betrayal and sexual identity with fearless honesty, kindness and understanding that will inspire countless others.
That’s What She Said is a provocative social documentary about eight unconnected men, who watch and respond to the theatre production Brutal Legacy about a woman’s harrowing story of domestic violence. Directed by Natasha Sutherland. Inspired by Tracy Going’s memoir, Brutal Legacy. The documentary premiers on M-Net tomorrow night, 25 November 2023, at 9PM. Watch the trailer here: That’s What She Said.
WE ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THAT KARAVAN PRESS IS THE SOUTH AFRICAN DISTRIBUTION PARTNER FOR GAIL GILBRIDE‘S MEMOIR, CAT THERAPY.
When Gail Gilbride is diagnosed with breast cancer, she experiences the full range of emotions. There’s disbelief, anger, confusion, fear, bargaining and, why, yes, indeed, of course she wants to talk to the manager! But then Gail settles on resolve. She’s ready to fight. Not only will she follow her doctor’s instructions and march with the big guns in the oncology centre, but she’ll also tip her helmet to her late mother’s inclination for alternative treatments. Gail is ready to give her body everything it might need to conquer the disease, recover and live a long life of joy. She nourishes it, meditates, exercises, rests, and explores parts of her consciousness she’s previously pushed to the far corner and ignored. Determined not to be a passenger, Gail hops behind the wheel and embarks on a journey like no other. What she doesn’t anticipate is that she’ll have a furry, ginger wingman for company.
Archie is the irredeemably part-feral tomcat who, when it suits him, moves in the same circles as Gail – and it suits him when he decides she needs the kind of therapy only he can give. In many ways, Gail and Archie are opposites. Where she’s amiable, he can be bellicose. Where Gail is gentle, Archie has claws. Where she is considerate, he is self-serving. And yet Archie brings to Gail camaraderie and healing in the dark hours when, alone, she cannot keep the dread at bay. He’s the remedy she didn’t know she needed.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
Cat Therapy is an anthology of diary entries written by Gail during her cancer treatment, which coincided with the Coronavirus pandemic. Emotionally rich and shedding light on one of the most challenging experiences anyone might encounter, it’s beautifully written with honesty, humour, playfulness and enduring optimism. Gail’s voice is warm, strong and true, taking us deep into the heart of a woman compelled to examine everything that’s gone before and undertake a difficult new journey. It also tells the story of the cat who raised a paw and joined the mission. – PENNY HAW, author of The Invincible Miss Cust, The Wilderness Between Us and Nicko.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gail Gilbride was born in Pretoria. She is a middle child and despite playing with dinky cars in the dust, she developed a love for dolls, ballet and all things pink. These days she lives on the edge of the Hemel en Aarde valley with her human and furry family, where she swims in the sea, writes, gardens and dabbles in painting.
Gail holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rhodes University and a post-graduate teaching diploma from UCT. In a previous life she taught English, Sound Perception and Communication Skills. She also used to dance and mastering the Tango is still on her wish list.
Her novel Under the African Sun was published by Cactus Rain in 2016, and it was selected as a top ten finalist in the Author Academy Awards competition (USA).
Cat Therapy is her unplanned memoir.
Publication date: March 2023
ISBN:
978-0-6397-5037-8 (print)
978-0-6397-5038-5 (eBook)
This Sunday, the wonderful Shafinaaz Hassim is interviewing Joanne Hichens about her memoir, Death and the After Parties.
In Prince Albert next week? Lucky you!
Enjoy, and if you love reading and listening to inspiring women, catch Cathy Park Kelly at the local library next Monday.
Don’t miss it!
The Life Righting Collective (LRC), founded by Dawn Garisch, is offering a memoir course in Joahnnesburg at the end of the month. Dawn will be facilitating the course:
We all have a story to tell from our own lives about how we became who we are. Stories about the way we were born, or about how someone helped us. About how we got ill or overcame a terrible loss.
Stories about how someone we loved to hurt us, or how a political or spiritual circumstance almost broke us. Stories about how we were bullied, about how an accident changed the course of our lives, or about how we were able to make a difference in someone else’s life. These stories are often invisible to others. They might still influence the way we think and feel in ways we don’t fully understand.
Writing about your own life can help you connect with the story you are living, and it can help to heal or manage the effects of trauma. It is a powerful way for us to communicate and to grow compassion for ourselves and for each other.
During this course we will find refreshing approaches to assist us in putting our personal stories down on the page.
Beginner writers are welcome!
DATES: Saturday 30 April – Monday 2 May 2022
TIME: 9 – 2 pm daily
VENUE: Family Life Centre, 1 Cardigan Road, Parkwood, Johannesburg
FEE: R3 000
FACILITATOR: Dawn GarischIf you are keen on joining this course please make your bookings via admin@liferighting.com and kindly forward to anyone you feel might be interested.
Remember, for our health and safety, all LRC in-person courses will be conducted in strict compliance with current Covid-19 rules and procedures.
We look forward to having you on the course!
With thanks from the LRC team.
LRC
A note from Dawn: People who cannot afford the full course fee, please get in touch with the organisers (contact details above) and they will try to accommodate you.
There must be a thing like book launch envy, because I am definitely experiencing it. Boiling a Frog Slowly by Cathy Park Kelly was launched at the beautiful Love Books last night, and I really, really wish I could have been there. Cathy was in conversation with the fabulous Joburg author, Pamela Power.
This is what Pamela had to say about the launch:
During all of this, I had to prepare for the launch of Boiling a Frog Slowly, Cathy Park Kelly’s Memoir published by Karavan Press about “love gone wrong”. It was FANTASTIC and more than a little emotional to be book-launching at Love Books after two years, and it was very exciting to meet Cathy in the flesh as we have only met online. The launch was packed and I saw a couple of familiar faces, including Nicola Cloete who is a former student of mine from WITS (and is now very fancy and much degreed), and her husband who is a former student of Cathy’s (nothing like meeting former students to make you feel seriously MATURE).
The book sold like hotcakes which is always lovely to see, and Cathy has organised for a book box where you can buy an extra copy of the book which then goes to organisations that deal with the survivors of GBV like Kwanele and POWA which I think is WONDERFUL. There are some copies left at Love Books, including signed copies, so hurry up if you want one for yourself or you want to contribute to the book box because I think they will sell out fast.
Authors Sue Nyathi and Gail Schimmel were both at the launch, Gail reminded me that it was exactly five years ago that we launched Delilah Now Trending at Love Books. Shocking that it’s taken me so long to get another book out (and a quarter of a book at that) but I guess it’s been a rather busy five years. Sue, who was Cathy’s editor on the anthology When Secrets Become Stories also got to meet Cathy IRL for the first time which was rather special.
The Week That Was – Go.See.Do. South Africa
Thank you, Love Books, Pamela, and all who attended (lucky yous!). And thank you, Cathy, for your brave and beautiful book.
When Christy Weyer of Liberty Books read Penny Haw’s novel, The Wilderness Between Us, and Cathy Park Kelly’s memoir, Boiling a Frog Slowly, she immediately saw the fascinating connection between the two books and offered to host an event with the authors. It’s happening at the bookshop on the 10th of March and you will not want to miss it!
“I’ve been fangirling about Cathy Park Kelly’s Boiling a Frog Slowly all the way down to my tippy toes and am delighted to announce that Cathy will be visiting Liberty on Thursday 10 March to discuss her heart-breaking, soul-healing, truth-telling and life-affirming memoir!
Cathy will be joined by another wonderful wordsmith who delves with sensitivity & acuity into women’s interior lives and relationships,” says Christy. “The Wilderness Between Us places a group of old friends on a hiking trail in the Tsitstikamma, puts them under pressure and then meticulously examines the fault-lines, fallout and freedom to find and fortify truer, stronger selves. With its emotional acuity and focus on relationships and resilience, The Wilderness Between Us resonates with Cathy Park Kelly’s Boiling a Frog Slowly, and I’m delighted to announce that Penny and Cathy will both be at Liberty Books on Thursday 10 March to discuss their beautiful books!”
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