OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

What else is there to say on a day of pure literary joy like this?

DAMON GALGUT WON THE BOOKER!

I am thrilled for him. This is the recognition that his talent, vision, dedication and brilliance deserve. Wow! Finally.

I have just looked at the list of all his novels and realised that I’d read them all. I have been a fan for a very long time. When accepting the prize, Damon mentioned that he is working on a short story collection and I wonder whether the one he wrote for Touch: Stories of Contact will be included. It is one of the most exquisite pieces of writing I have ever read.

How absolutely wonderful that this has happened to him. The Booker. And now, Damon’s engaging and enriching work will be read and celebrated across the world like never before. This makes me happy.

A few years ago, at the FLF: with Fanie Naudé, Damon and Ivan Vladislavić – one of the most exhilarating festival events I ever had the honour of chairing.

(And the news that, as of tonight, we sold out all the available tickets for the Karavan Press Literary Festival is also really great! :))

Good night.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

I am usually good at following instructions, but when these are not clear and no one is around to assist you, things can become very frustrating, especially when you are trying to juggle a million other tasks at the same time. Needless to say, I really failed – again – at something, and by the time I discovered how to solve the problem, it was perhaps too late. Let’s see. The good thing is that when I was running around this morning like a headless chicken, I found another lucky coin which cheered me up. Rainbows, lucky coins, signs. In all this chaos, one has to hang on to something.

Did you see the petrol price increase!? It made me reconsider my attitude towards bicycles. There was a time in my life (between the ages of fourteen and nineteen), when I cycled and trained every day and participated in two road races almost every weekend (I was hopeless at it, but I finished every single race I entered). Then, I let go. And since coming to live in Cape Town, I haven’t cycled apart from rare occasions when I visit my family in Austria again. Looking at the petrol price, I wish cycling was as safe and effortless as it is in Austria. Luckily, I am still a walker and I often walk to my destinations. Topolino will have to stay at home in the garage more often from tomorrow onwards …

Loadshedding. No surprise there, but oh, what a nuisance! Navigating most days without loadshedding is a challenge. With loadshedding, I just want to sit in a corner and give up.

Following the election results, I cannot help but wonder how people denied the vote for decades do not actually exercise their right when it is finally possible, especially in a country where things are not exactly going in a great direction. I was heartened to see that many of my friends exhibited their inky thumbs throughout yesterday and today, but still … It’s like vaccinating – if not enough people do it, the results are good for some, but not the majority of people.

My last task for today was a lovely book delivery (reading copies for the festival). I got home by about five and was relieved that the only thing remaining to be done was cooking dinner. And now, I am just going to have an early night. I am a walking zombie.

585 days since the beginning of our lockdown.

Good night.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

I met with three lovely authors this afternoon at the Vineyard to discuss and celebrate different projects – one of the authors was Melissa A. Volker, and I was able to introduce her to The Pool Guy in all his glorious bookish flesh. Melissa’s first novelette will be available in bookshops later this month and we hope to launch it properly early in December. Details to follow.

The other two authors also brought smiles to my lips and I went home a happy woman. Then, I saw this rainbow on the way and made a wish and was simply in a good mood.

In the evening, I made a fire and braaied a monster steak for my love and myself. Glinka insisted on having a bite, and Salieri, out of frustration that she was not allowed to have any (because of her strict iodine-free diet), went out into the garden and caught herself a frog. Fortunately, I rescued the poor thing in time before his legs became Salieri’s dinner. No kisses of gratitude, though.

The Karavan Press Literary Festival is nearly booked out. I am thrilled.

I wish I could have voted, but I am not allowed.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

Halloween at Liberty Books! Stories, ghosts, authors, readers, witches, princesses and Cleopatra, the cat.

A magical, fun, truly relaxing evening to end an emotionally tense and professionally exhausting week. John performed a new script by Finuala Dowling, specially written for Halloween. Christy was an amazing hostess, as always. Peregrine and Liberty Books the perfect venue. And the audience was just enjoying every second of the spooky storytelling with all its literary mysteries ghosting around. And I got to reconnect with Lester. Can’t wait to see him at the Karavan Press Literary Festival again.

I love returning to the Elgin Valley. And this weekend the private gardens of the area were open for viewing again, adding more charm to an already wonderful excursion.

I still had to work until just after twelve today, but this afternoon, I was able to finally rest – just lie on a bed in the middle of the day and do nothing. Much needed. And then Elgin restored me to myself even more. It is a magical place.

Good night.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

My lovely neighbours had to endure another burglary this week. Judging from the MO, probably the same thief as last time. With the beginning of the long voting weekend, I heard two sounds all day today: my neighbours’ attempts to turn their home into a fortress by introducing further security measures, and all around us alarms going off. I worked for most of the day in my bed, so it was impossible not to hear the sound effects of a neighbourhood in criminal distress. I have become so paranoid about safety now that it is no longer simple OCD behaviour … and yet, and yet. Home is home.

In the late afternoon, I went to have supper with my love – all healthy stuff after our pizza sinning last night. I returned home to do some more work – the latest round of edits on a manuscript has got me in head-scratching mode. A chronology issue needs to be resolved. But no solutions presented themselves today. Maybe one will appear in my dreams.

For quite a while now, I have been daydreaming of a bath, but could not find the time. My councillor advised that I do something special for myself every day, especially when everything is crazy. So, tonight, was bath time! And while I was in the bath, I watched some more Star Trek: Picard with my brother. (No worries: the laptop was positioned in such a way that my poor brother wasn’t exposed to my nakedness!)

In the episode we watched, there was an interesting take on what a promise is – a prison that we design for ourselves. Today, I agree. I broke a promise – not because I intended to, but because I simply ran out of time and ideas to complete a task. And I cannot escape the prison of guilt attached to the failure.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

Yesterday’s sunset. My love and I went out on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, a dinner with friends and a dinner with strangers who might become friends. Tonight, it was just pizza night. But in a way, it was the most special of the nights – just us, sharing a pizza at the end of a long, difficult week. The home we visited on Wednesday was the place we met for the first time nearly five years ago. I still remember sitting around the dinner table that evening, thinking that my life was such a mess that it would probably never feel right again. I was surrounded by darkness. Five years later and so much has changed. Despite the challenges of the lockdown, all the horrible news flooding in mercilessly almost every day, there is the possibility of calm and love and light at the end of a day, a long difficult week.

Being able to socialise with vaccinated people is a great change, a huge relief, but after all these months in lockdown and limited gatherings with people, it is not easy. I feel more introverty than usual.

Good news from the book world: I met someone who will potentially help Karavan Press grow in unexpected ways – we are meeting again early next month to discuss details; we entered the GBAS Book Cover Design Awards with our six covers of 2021; two of our titles are coming out in early November and the last one towards the end of the month, hopefully in time for the … Karavan Press Literary Festival.

First bookings are coming in. I can’t wait to talk books with other readers and writers – all day long!

But tonight, all I am still capable of is sleep.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

A friend died. Another became a widow. We haven’t seen one another since they’d moved continents a few years ago, but we have been in touch, and I owe them so much that they have never been far from my thoughts. There was a moment in my life when everything became so dark, I could hardly breathe. My personal and professional lives lay in ruins around me; hope was a dying ember in the corner of my soul. I was utterly lost. But they helped me find a way out. If it hadn’t been for them, I might have never published another book; I might have not found myself again.

And today, he is no longer with us, and she …

… I remember.

And the tears just keep coming.

I feel numb. I wish I could write about the amazing literary things that happened today, but at the moment I cannot grasp their meaning. All I hope for is that the night is kind to us in these unbearable times.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

What can I say?

Monday.

I survived.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

The transcontinental Start Trek: Picard watching with my brother was a great success. We are three episodes in and loving it.

And my love and I finished watching Call My Agent! – a delight, although I am quite ambivalent about the ending and pleased that another season has been announced. Next up: Sex Education, latest season.

Otherwise, a working weekend, apart from a lovely Saturday lunch with friends at The Black Sheep. My first meal at the restaurant, but certainly not my last. Delicious. And the company was great.

Yet, nothing beats my love’s roast chicken, Sunday evening’s treat, which I am about to enjoy. My area is loadshedding tonight, but I am safely elsewhere. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the blackout and read until power came back on and I could fall asleep again. Loadshedding and insomnia are a horrible combination.

Anyway, I did catch up with a lot of work this weekend and feel ready for the week. I hope that life will become less stressful again in November. I am looking forward to the McGregor Poetry Festival and another festival to be announced shortly … :)

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD

OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

As he is based in Edinburgh nowadays, it is wonderful to welcome Nick Mulgrew back on South African soil. He will be visiting family towards the end of the month and will launch his beautiful debut novel, A Hibiscus Coast, in Johannesburg on 28 October. He will be in conversation with Maneo Mohale. Not to be missed, if you are in Joburg!

Cape Town, no need for FOMO – Nick will be with us early next year and we will definitely celebrate him and his book during his visit.

I am in the process of planning a few more exciting literary events this year. Watch this space!

Today, I met with another author visiting from overseas. We have never met before, but I felt that we had an instant connection, and I sincerely hope that we will be working on a project together early next year.

So, another busy day. The to do list is getting shorter, but this will be a partly working weekend.

I had dinner with my love at his place tonight and we watched an episode of our series. Saw a terrible car accident on the way home. The weather might have played a role. It feels good to be safely home under a dry (still) roof.

My brother and I used to arrange cinema outings across continents: we would go to our respective cinemas (he in Taipei, or Salzburg, or wherever else he would be in the world) and I in Cape Town at the same time and watch the same movie. Tonight, we are attempting to watch an episode of Star Trek together online … let’s see whether it will work … :)

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD