Karina Author, Book, Event

The one thing that will sell your story … by Cathy Park Kelly

Wonderful advice by Cathy Park Kelly, author of Boiling a Frog Slowly:

I only went to the monthly literary event, a conversation between author James Whyle, author of We Two from Heaven, and John Maytham, a local radio personality, at our local library because I had to.

I’m on the Friends of Fish Hoek Library committee and we were on duty one recent wintery Saturday morning.

The blurb of the book had done the opposite of grab me – words on the back like ‘palimpsest’ and ‘four-part fugue’ had convinced me it was not my kind of book. It sounded like hard work to read, and too ‘literary’ to enjoy.

But the interview with the author, James Whyle, by resonant-voiced and insightful John Maytham, convinced me otherwise. Whyle’s responses to the questions were sometimes rambling, sometimes off-beat, but always candid and thought-provoking. And so I bought the book.

Continue reading: “The one thing that will sell your story …”

Karina Author, Book, Event

Shift from Storyteller to Story Seller with Cathy Kelly and the Life Righting Collective

Are you an author about to send your book out into the world? Does the thought of marketing make you cringe?

Then this two-hour online interactive workshop – Shift from Storyteller to Story Seller – is for you. Reframe ‘marketing’ from a blush-worthy grind to an enthusiastic and energised adventure. 

Cathy Kelly, author of Boiling a Frog Slowly, is thrilled to offer it as part of the Life Righting Collective Writer’s Way Series 2. 

This workshop will help you reignite your passion for your story by showing you three practical steps to reimagine your story’s narrative power and find your readers. 

More info: Life Righting Collective

Karina Author, Event

WRITING SHORT with Kerry Hammerton and the Life Righting Collective

Sometimes we have a personal story we want to tell but it feels too large or too overwhelming. What would it mean if you wrote that story as a piece of flash? Join writer and writing facilitator Kerry Hammerton to explore the art of writing flash creative non-fiction/memoir and fiction, or writing short. We will read interesting examples of flash and use them as a stepping stone to generate writing. The workshop will be interactive with a number of exercises and creative ways of exploring writing ideas. You will leave with a number of pieces of writing that you can edit and incorporate into a larger piece of work.

“Writing is a mode of reading is a mode of writing is a mode of thinking is a mode of feeling.” Lance Olsen

For more details see: Life Righting Collective

Karina Book, Interview

LitNet: An interview with Karina M Szczurek from Karavan Press

Stefaans Coetzee sent Karina M Szczurek a number of questions.

Karina M Szczurek, could you please introduce yourself in a few sentences for our readers?

Polish by birth, Austrian by citizenship and South African by heart, I am a reader, writer, editor and publisher based in Cape Town. I count myself extremely lucky, because I write and work with stories for a living. After my turbulent, migratory early life, South African stories brought me to this country. The old Victorian house I share now with Salieri, my beloved literary catssistant, has been my home for the past 20 years. I am gradually approaching my fiftieth birthday, but I am still learning how to be in this strange world, and loving the adventure.

What made you decide to start a short story workshop, which would result in anthologies?

Continue reading: LitNet

Karina Author, Book, Event, Festival

Flash workshops with Kerry Hammerton

Kerry Hammerton, editor of In Other Stories, will be running a few flash workshops this year. Participating authors will have an opportunity to submit their work to her second anthology of flashes.

The first of these takes place on Saturday, 1 February 2025, at the Cape Flats Book Festival and is FREE!

A wonderful opportunity to engage with the form and to attend a great book festival taking place at the same time! The anthology Kerry is compiling will be published by Karavan Press.

Karina Book

Karavan Stories 2025: Workshop and Anthology

After the success of Tiger: Karavan Stories 2023 and Temperature: Karavan Stories 2024, be part of the third Karavan Stories anthology! We will meet again for a writing workshop at the end of April and together analyse what makes a good short story, read examples, go through a few writing exercises, begin exploring ideas for new stories and in the following months write, edit and compile an anthology of stories which will be published by Karavan Press.

WORKSHOP DATE: Saturday, 26 April 2025, 9:00 – 15:00

VENUE: 6 Banksia Road, Rosebank, 7700 Cape Town

PUBLICATION DATE: October / November 2025

FEE: R3 900

Includes: workshop, catering during the day of the workshop, guidance and feedback, editing, proofreading, 5 copies of the anthology and the option to submit your next manuscript to Karavan Press.

Maximum number of participants: 14 (ONLY 4 SPOTS STILL AVAILABLE, book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment).

To book your spot, contact Karina: Karavan Stories 2025

FACILITATOR / EDITOR:

Karina M. Szczurek is the author and (co)editor of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. She won the MML Literature Award in the Category English Drama in 2012, received the Thomas Pringle Award for a portfolio of ad hoc reviews from the English Academy of Southern Africa in 2018 and the HSS Award for Best Fiction Edited Volume in 2024. She is a board member of Short Story Day Africa. In 2019, she founded Karavan Press, an independent publishing house, and a year later, established the Philida Literary Award.