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!
Everything was familiar,but not enough to be comforting.
Fourteen rich and entangled stories set on the cosmopolitan Southern African coast and its hinterland.
Journey on broken-family vacations, or into canefields where clouds of birds fill the sky. Join a postman on his jaunt into the weird world of the ultra rich, or descend into a haunting colonial purgatory.
Meet people from all walks of life as they try to navigate them, stuck between a fragmented present and an unspeakable past.
WINNER of the 2016 THOMAS PRINGLE PRIZE
SHORTLISTED for the 2015 WHITE REVIEW PRIZE
“One never gets bored in the company of Nick Mulgrew.”
– Jean-Paul Beaumier, Nuit Blanche
Publisher: This edition Karavan Press
(First published in Cape Town by David Philip Publishers in 2016)
Publication date: May 2023
ISBN: 978-0-6397-7839-6
THE FIRST LAW OF SADNESS
Mostly I hope there is no heaven,just so you’ll never see how I’m doing.
Audacious, imaginative tales of killer eagles and paintball guns, tattoo removal and animal sanctuaries, pornographers and biltong makers; of a South Africa concurrently too strange and too familiar for comfort.
With trademark poetic and spiritual flair, these stories combine comedy and grief, spectacle, sex, and nostalgia.
WINNER of the 2018 NADINE GORDIMER AWARD
A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
“Full of the possible becoming probable, of the mundane made massive, of leviathans glimpsed out of the corner of an eye.”
– Russell Grant, Mail & Guardian
“An accomplished writer [who] handles both the horror and banality of experience.”
– Diane Awerbuck, Sunday Times
Publisher: This edition Karavan Press
(First published in Cape Town by David Philip Publishers in 2017)
Publication date: May 2023
ISBN: 978-0-6397-7840-2
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.
karavanpress.com 