A special reading and a first look at Stephen’s debut short story collection, Of Dust, Salt and Love, which includes “The Seduction of Ozzie Stone”. Please join us for this celebration.
Short and Sweet, and wonderfully successful
The third Karavan Press Literary Festival: Short & Sweet took place at the Fish Hoek Public Library on 9 March 2024. This year, we worked in cooperation with the Blown Away by Books and Friends of the Fish Hoek Library, and focused entirely on the SHORT STORY!
It was difficult to predict how a whole day of short story events, including a workshop, would be received, but we need not have worried. I cannot thank all those who attended enough for their incredible support. The short story is alive and well in our literary community. It was so heartening to see.
I am immensely grateful to all the participating Authors – you are all so talented and inspiring. Listening to you made me fall in love with the short story all over again. Thank you for writing and being part of the Karavan Press journey. What an adventure we are having!
A special thank you to Rachel Zadok of Short Story Day Africa for everything she has done for the short story in South Africa, on the continent and beyond. Her FLOW Workshop showed us how creativity flows in our veins, connecting and empowering us to tell our stories. Also, a huge thank you to Joanne Hichens of Short.Sharp.Stories. The two of you are champions of the short story in South Africa. Deepest gratitude for all the love and energy that you devote to this fascinating form of storytelling!
Photo gallery by Kerry Hammerton, who is working on her first short story collection and compiling an anthology of flashes!
And – of course! – THANK YOU to the Friends of the Fish Hoek Library, especially Debi Hawkins, without whom none of this would have been possible. Thank you for all your amazing support in organising and hosting this day of literary fun!
To all the Readers who took our books home: THANK YOU! And happy reading!
Nick Mulgrew shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award
We are thrilled to announce that Nick Mulgrew, the author of Tunnel, A Hibiscus Coast, The First Law of Sadness and Stations (among others), has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University for his story ‘The Storm’ – congratulations, Nick!
And congratulations to all other shortlisted authors!
NICK MULGREW was born in Durban in 1990. He writes novels, short fiction and poetry. Among his accolades are the 2016 Thomas Pringle Prize, the 2018 Nadine Gordimer Award, and a Mandela Rhodes Scholarship. His debut novel, A Hibiscus Coast, won the 2022 K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award. Since 2014 he has directed uHlanga, an acclaimed poetry press. He currently lives in Scotland, where he studies at the University of Dundee. Karavan Press published Nick’s first two novels and new editions of his short story collections:
“Section 22” – a short story by Nick Mulgrew
Subtropical sounds nice, but it actually just means that it’s hot, and that when it isn’t hot, it rains.
Over the years he’s slid a fair bit down the hierarchy of needs. Technically he could rent through Social Housing, but he has enough coming in to get someplace on his own sweat. Not in Ifafa Beach or Hibberdene, no — more like Clansthal, a roomshare in Port Shepstone. The distance doesn’t matter — the road is his job. For now a house is an overexpenditure of effort. Maybe one day.
He’s used to it, this. His parents used to take him camping. Life is one long camping trip. It’s more convenient to live in the bakkie. He’s not a tall man anyway. He’s lined the fibreglass canopy with insulation, hooked up some curtains and a second battery. It’ll chow his alternator — but what else are things for other than to be used?
To be more specific, he empties bins. The classified in the Mercury said it was a plus if you came with your own car — you could cover a greater stretch. The municipality was trying to cut costs. He does the job of four people for the salary of just one …
minor literature(s)
Continue reading: “Section 22”
The story was runner-up in the Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction in 2021. There is still time to enter this year’s prize:
DEALER – a new story by Nick Mulgrew
Continue reading: the other side of hope
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