The Craft – online live poetry editing workshop – with Melissa Sussens, Nikki Allen, Lexi Pelle, and Carson Wolfe

The Craft brings you the intimacy of a workshop with the energy of a live event. Hosted by four published poets with a wealth of experience in teaching and editing – Nikki Allen, Lexi Pelle, Carson Wolfe, and Melissa Sussens (author of Slaughterhouse, published by Karavan Press, and editor of our forthcoming poetry anthology).

In a landscape ripe with open mics and generative workshops, we offer something different – insight into the editing process and direct access to the craft of revision. No pre-reading, no homework, no lesson plans – we just show up and edit your poems.

Using a fishbowl style of teaching, as inspired by the renowned online poetry course, Poems That Don’t Suck by Megan Falley. We pull four names at random from the attendee list and live-edit these ‘fishes’ before audience participants, followed by a short Q&A.

SUNDAY, 3 MAY 2026, 6-7.30PM

To purchase a ticket and get more info, see: Buy a Ticket – The Craft – Zoom

SAVE THE DATE: Poetry is coming to Elgin!

We have exciting poetry news to share! Together with Cheverells Farm and Liberty Books, we are organising a poetry festival in the stunning Elgin! Between 24 and 26 July 2026, Cheverells Farm and Liberty Books will be home to the inaugural Elgin Poetry Festival. Expect a series of events – launches, discussions, readings and workshops – celebrating poetry with all poetry lovers. The festival will commence with a Friday night fine dining & poetry evening and continue over the weekend. Keep a look out for details!

Poetry Evening next to the fireplace with Sarah Frost, Chantal Stewart and Lucienne Argent

Background photo fragment: Joël de Vriend | Unsplash

Dear Poetry Lovers,

Please join us for an evening of poetry next to the fireplace with Sarah Frost, Chantal Stewart and Lucienne Argent.

Sarah, who recently published her second collection of poetry with Karavan Press – River Fugue – is based in Durban, but she is visiting Cape Town towards the end of the month, and we are using this wonderful opportunity to spend an evening in her company. Together with Chantal Stewart, author of the award-winning novel The Veil of Maya who will be publishing her debut poetry collection with Karavan Press later this year, Let’s Be Legends, and Lucienne Argent, whose debut, Self-Portrait of a Guava, has been warming reader’s hearts since its publication in December last year, Sarah will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek, and all three poets will read from their collections. We will have a lovely fire, snacks and wine will be served, and books will be on sale. Not to be missed!

Limited space. Please RSVP as soon as possible to avoid disappointment: RSVP

We look forward to seeing you on the 31st!

Megan Hall and Shari Daya reading at The Red Wheelbarrow

Megan Hall and Shari Daya will be reading to us at 6 Spin Street on Wednesday, 28th August at 7 p.m.

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 (The New 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 ObsidianStanzasNew 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, has been recently published by Karavan Press this year.

As always, the reading by the featured poet(s) 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.
 
Please note that 6 Spin Street offers a cash bar.
We look forward to seeing you there!
 
Date: Wednesday, 28th August 2024
Time: 19:00
Venue: 6 Spin Street Restaurant Gallery, 6 Spin Street, Church Square, Cape Town