Meet Thobeka Yose, author of In Silence My Heart Speaks — a powerful memoir of trauma, love, loss and ultimately forgiveness. From a painful childhood to the early loss of her husband, single parenting and supporting her child through a journey of identity and self-discovery, Thobeka’s story is one of strength, compassion and growth.
Hear her speak on Thursday, 23 October 2025, 09:15, at the UJW Women of Courage event.
Book here: UJW Women of Courage 2025
Don’t miss a great lineup, including Thobeka Yose, author of the award-winning In Silence My Heart Speaks, at this year’s Khayelitsha Book Festival taking place between 26 and 28 September 2025.
Khayelitsha Book Festival is a vibrant celebration of reading, writing, and storytelling rooted in the heart of one of South Africa’s most dynamic communities. Under the powerful theme “We Read, We Write: A Declaration…”, the festival brings together local authors, poets, educators, and young readers to affirm the importance of literacy as a tool for empowerment, identity, and change. Through book launches, panel discussions, performances, and workshops, the festival inspires a love for literature and creates space for voices from Khayelitsha and beyond to be heard, shared, and celebrated.
Venue address: Kilombo Village, 1 Joe Modise St, Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, Cape Town
Book tickets here: Quicket
Karavan Press was recognised for its book In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose, winning the $20,000 top prize
ALGIERS, Algeria, September 9, 2025/APO Group/ — Karavan Press, an independent publisher based in Cape Town, South Africa is the winner of the 2025 edition of the CANEX Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa that celebrates and recognises outstanding contributions of African publishers and authors to the literary world.
Karavan Press was recognised for its book In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose, winning the $20,000 top prize. The Prize was presented by Algeria’s Minister of Culture and Arts Azzedine Mihoubi during an award ceremony held during the ongoing Intra-African Trade Fair 2025 (IATF2025) in Algiers. Finalists received $2,000 each.
The Prize is a joint initiative of the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), an intervention by African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with Narrative Landscape Press Limited. It aims to showcase the literary and publishing value chain in Africa and developing literary talent across the continent and the Diaspora.
Continue reading: “Karavan Press bags Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa 2025”
The shortlist for the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa — honouring the publishers who bring bold, brilliant African stories to the world — has been announced and we are thrilled that Thobeka Yose’s In Silence My Heart Speaks is among the selected titles. Congratulations to all shortlisted authors and publishers!
Thobeka, literary love and gratitude for the grace, courage and compassion with which you have shared your story with readers!
Meet all five unforgettable books chosen by the judging panel, chaired by Prof. Egara Kabaji:
• ‘No Pink in a Rainbow’ by Angel Patricks Amegbe, published by Masobe Books – A profound meditation on loss and the enduring power of quiet love, beautifully crafted both in prose and in print.
• ‘Dear Zimi’ by Chiziterem Chijioke, published by Quramo Publishing – A tender, courageous story of motherhood and resilience, positioning Chijioke as a significant voice in contemporary African literature.
• ‘The Comrade’s Wife’ by Barbara Boswell, published by Jacana Media – A bold, emotionally honest narrative that confronts personal and political betrayal in post-apartheid South Africa with feminist clarity.
• ‘Broken: Not a Halal Love Story’ by Fatima Bala, published by Masobe Books – A moving exploration of faith, identity, and forbidden love, balancing personal truth with spiritual devotion.
• ‘In Silence My Heart Speaks’ by Thobeka Yose, published by Karavan Press – A luminous memoir tackling mental health, abuse, betrayal, and sexual identity with honesty and defiance.
The winner will be revealed at CANEX@IATF2025 in Algiers, Algeria (4–10 September 2025) – the ultimate gathering for Africa’s creative industries.
Whether you’re a reader, writer, or culture lover, these books belong on your list.
The Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists have been announced and we are delighted that they feature five Karavan Press titles. Congratulations to all longlisted authors!
Thank you to all who make these awards possible!
Mountains of gratitude to Karavan Press authors on the lists:
FICTION
Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings (co-published with Holland House Books)
Who Looks Inside by Anna Stroud
Good Hope by Nick Clelland
NON-FICTION
In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose
Dayspring by C. J. Driver (co-published with uHlanga Press)
For all details, see: Sunday Times Literary Awards
To say that we are thrilled would be the understatement of the year … In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose (Karavan Press, 2024) is among the longlisted titles for the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa.
Congratulations to all other publishers and books! We are honoured and proud to feature on this wonderful list.
Congratulations, Thobeka! Literary love and gratitude to you! Thank you for publishing your brave and inspiring story with Karavan Press.
The literary festival season continues and we are delighted to announce that the following Karavan Press authors will be participating in the Kingsmead Book Fair this year:
Meet the Freckolions and the Spots who are bitterly arguing over Face’s vast landscape. Then one day an alien craft descends on Face and sends the Freckolions and Spots into panic! SA actress Lisa Trudoux introduces her first charming and quirky children’s book Dot To Dot which teaches kids the invaluable lessons of self-love and kindness towards others in the most enchanting way.
Sewela Langeni (Making Friends with Feelings) provides a safe space for Jeffrey Rakabe (Led by Shepherds) and Thobeka Yose (In Silence My Heart Speaks) to chat about transferring pain to the page.
Amy Heydenrych (Chasing Marian) examines the creation of the powerful women at the centre of the works of Zukiswa Wanner (Love Marry Kill), Michelle Kekana (The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women) and Qarnita Loxton (What’s Wrong with June?).
Penny Haw (Follow Me To Africa: A Novel), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Creation of Half-Broken People) and Louisa Treger (The Paris Muse) discuss facets of historical fiction – beyond the period in which it’s set – that really matter with Michael Boyd (Weight of Shade).
Merle Levin (World According to Merle: Memoir of a Deliciously Daring Granny), Costa Ayiotis (Matriarchs, Meze and the Evil Eye: A Memoir) and Glenn Orsmond (Crash and Burn: A CEO’s Crazy Adventures in the SA Airline Industry) tell Karina Szczurek (Karavan Press) about their weird uncles and the strange lady from the office.
Peter-Adrian Altini (Salt Water Pool Boy) and Charl-Pierre Naudé (The Equality of Shadows) discuss style and complexity with Craig Higginson (The Ghost of Sam Webster).
Khaya Dlanga (Life is Like That Sometimes) and Gavin Evans (Son of a Preacher Man) tell Anna Stroud (Who Looks Inside) about what they have learned while writing about themselves.
Onke Mazibuko (Canary) follows Nick Clelland (Good Hope), Siya Khumalo (The Queer Book of Revelation) and Sam Wilson (The First Murder on Mars) into the detailed, fresh worlds of their books.
Queen bees Karina Szczurek (Karavan Press), Melinda Ferguson (Melinda Ferguson Books) and Zukiswa Wanner (Paivapo Publishing) underline the importance of curating stories from a feminine perspective with Sewela Langeni (Book Circle Capital).
The Karavan is hitting the road and celebrating all things literary in the wonderful Book Town of Richmond at the end of October/beginning of November. It is time for Madibaland @ BookBedonnerd Literary Festival again and we hope to see many of your there.
Karavan Press titles on the programme:
THURSDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2024
| 08h00 – 08h55 | COFFEE & WRITING WORKSHOP WITH KARINA M. SZCZUREK |
| 12h10 – 12h35 | Michael Boyd, The Weight of Shade |
| 12h35 – 13h00 | Thobeka Yose, In Silence my Heart Speaks |
FRIDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2024
| 08h00 – 08h55 | COFFEE & WRITING WORKSHOP WITH KARINA M. SZCZUREK |
SATURDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2024
| 14h00 – 14h30 | C. J. Driver, Dayspring |
| 14h30 – 15h00 | Gail Gilbride, Cat Therapy |
To see the exciting list of all participants, click here: Authors
For the full programme, click here: BookBedonnerd Literary Festival
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.
karavanpress.com 