The most intensely felt and memorable experiences of our lives involve the ties that bind us to other people. In this performance John Maytham reads classic and little-known poems about families – poets’ personal memories of birth, child-rearing and death, marriage and divorce, partnership and breakup, words uttered in anger and words uttered in love. Compiled by Finuala Dowling, this moving, funny and deeply true script reminds the audience of what it means to be someone’s child, parent, sibling, spouse, or simply a fellow human being.
Earlier this year, Debi Thomas Hawkins published her first book, Becoming a Mermaid Sister, a memoir about how the sea saved her at a time when she needed it the most. What she did not know at the time of the official publication of the book was that life was about to throw her a curveball that would take many months to recover from – but that is another story. When I saw Debi a few weeks ago, she shared what had happened to her with me, and told me how her memoir got lost in the chaos, how it never even had a proper launch. I was shocked that I did not even know it existed. But I knew how much Debi supports the literary community as a reader and a member of the Friends of the Fish Hoek Library who organise the fabulous Blown Away by Books, and I immediately thought that there was a simple way we could say ‘thank you’ for everything that she has done for all of us. So I bought a copy of Becoming a Mermaid Sister and asked Debi whether I could assist her to organise the launch of this beautiful, inspiring memoir. Luckily, she said yes.
Unsurprisingly, after reading the book, I dreamt all night long about swimming in the sea, and I woke up feeling a longing to head to the nearest beach. I love the sea and I love swimming. Unlike Debi, who grew up in landlocked Zim, I grew up in a country with a magnificent sea and was introduced to its wonders as a small child. Debi moved to the Cape and the seaside only sixteen years ago, and found the courage to begin engaging with the sea only recently – when it was forbidden to do so during the deepest darkness of lockdown. It was a time in her life when she was experiencing the challenges of midlife as a woman and a mother, when she lost her job and income during the pandemic and tried to desperately reimagine herself in the new circumstances. In Becoming a Mermaid Sister, she recalls the disastrous first swim, when she and her husband Roger, aka The Pirate, decided to brave the lockdown regulations and found a secluded spot to go for a forbidden swim. They weren’t caught (not that time!), but Debi was left with “a love bite from the sea” after the adventure. Finding awe and solace in the sea, Debi and her “family bubble” found their Secret Beach and continued to swim. A traumatic arm fracture in her childhood and the resulting loss of full control over her arm made Debi fearful, and simple tasks that most of us take for granted became challenging in the everyday for her. Communing with the sea allowed her to face those fears and find a new side to her already amazing resilience. Meeting other women of the sea who practice cold-water immersion and paddling opened entirely new realms of possibility. They call themselves Mermaid Sisters. Their ethos is “kindness, support, and an unspoken trust circle.” Together, they create a space of safety that allows each member to thrive. Debi’s memoir tells the story of self-transformation that she calls “kick-in-the-butt-mation”. It is the story of how courage allowed her to discover the physical, psychological and emotional benefits of the sea, and it is a celebration of community.
“I am the champion of my life,” Debi says in Becoming a Mermaid Sister. And so she is, and she inspires all of us to become the champions of our lives.
Let’s celebrate this incredible woman and her wonderful book! See you at the Tokai Public Library on 28 November!
In keeping with the Noordhoek Art Point Gallery‘s theme for November — the Flow of Water — this month’s Salon Hecate will feature the recently published Short.Sharp.Story anthology, Fluid: The Freedom To Be.
For Fluid, South African writers were given this intriguing prompt: “In a FLUID state, nothing is fixed, matter can flow easily — between borders and boundaries, between cultures, between genders — everything is possible, porous, playful. In this world, increasingly conservative and restricted, we embrace the fluid nature of humanity. We grow, we change course, we discover more about who we are.” The best twenty stories in response were published in this collection. In reviewing it, author Jen Thorpe said: “I am always searching for writing that challenges me to try new techniques, forms and genres, and that takes on subjects I hadn’t considered. This collection does just that.”
Together with three Fluid contributors, I was asked to speak about the collection at the next Salon Hecate event. Contributors will read brief extracts from their stories. One of them, local artist Alex Latimer, will talk about the “fluidity” and overlap of being both a visual artist and illustrator, and an author. Vuyokazi Ngemntu will speak about the shades (literally) of identity for another perspective on what it means to be fluid. And Anna Hug will read from her shocking and entertaining story featuring perfume — also a fluid. Additionally, author Athambile Masola will read her poetry in both English and isiXhosa, to show us another form of fluidity — translation.
About the authors
Karina Szczurek
Karina Szczurek is an author, memoirist, reviewer and the driving force behind Karavan Press. She lives in Rosebank, Cape Town, and has won too many awards for her writing to list here. She looks very fetching in a witch’s hat.
Alex Latimer
Alex Latimer is an artist and illustrator who lives in Fish Hoek. His picture books are published around the world, and his stories have won or been shortlisted for the Short Story Day Africa prize and the Commonwealth prize. He has published a novel and two apocalyptic sagas, South and North, as one half of Frank Owen (the other half being Diane Awerbuck, whose work also appears in Fluid).
Vuyokazi Ngemntu
Vuyokazi Ngemntu is a writer-performer who lives in Nyanga. She uses a wide range of performances of words (poetry, ritual, song and more) to look at trauma and inequality, and to inspire healing. Her short stories have won or been shortlisted for a number of prizes in Africa.
Athambile Masola
Athambile Masola is an academic, archival expert and poet who lives in Muizenberg. She lectures in Historical Studies at UCT, and her PhD and primary research focuses on black women’s life writing. Her debut poetry collection, Ilifa, was published in 2021.
Anna Hug
Anna Hug, an author and editor who lives in Kommetjie, has had her stories published in South African literary journals, and has been longlisted for the Myslexia fiction prize.
Salon details
Date and time: TUESDAY (note: not our usual Monday!) 14 November, 5.30 for 6pm, until 7pm. Entrance is free, and all are welcome.
Please join us for small snacks and a glass of wine or juice.
Got a question about this event or interested in a particular piece you’ve seen? Get in touch with the Gallery at info@noordhoekartpoint.co.za or call 0835642493.
THE CREATIVE TEAM BEHIND THE HIT SHOW, APPLE FACE, ARE STAGING AN EXCITING NEW PLAY AT THE BAXTER MASAMBE THEATRE IN NOVEMBER.
Director Adrian Collins, together with writer Pierre Malherbe, bring you BUCKET BOY, a dark, yet poignant comedy set in a DVD store in the not-too-distant past of the late 2010s.
John Maytham plays the part of Baardmann, the long-suffering owner of the store, who is failing to keep his business afloat as the declining popularity of DVD’s makes way for online streaming.
Pierre Malherbe plays the part of Duncan, a struggling songwriter and one of the store’s customers, who takes on a part time job at the store, to supplement the income of his main job as a musician.
But Baardmann has a secret obsession that is linked to his mysterious past and soon these two men from similar, but different backgrounds find their histories colliding in a comedic play full of wit, nostalgia and suspense.
BUCKET BOYwill be onstage at the Baxter’s Masambe Theatre from 31 October until 15 November 2023. The show carries a 16 age restriction for language and sexual references.
Tickets are available online through Webtickets at a price of R180 per person.
I had the pleasure of reading the play in advance and cannot wait to see it on stage. Absolutely loved it: the characters, the story and the wonderful humour laced with regret and loss.
The 4-5 November weekend promises a lot of literary joy. The Cape Flats Book Festival is taking place that weekend and the one-day Festival of Poetry is happening on the 4th. Karavan Press authors are well represented at both, and I am also playing a role in my diverse capacities.
4 November | Bertha House and Youngblood-Africa
5 November | West End Primary School
I had great fun at the Cape Flats Book festival last year; I am so looking forward to returning. And I am thrilled about the Festival of Poetry. A weekend of inspiration and enlightenment awaits!
Six years after publication, The Fifth Mrs Brink is making her last official appearance at a festival before going out of print. The Book Lounge will be selling the remaining copies of the original edition of my memoir.
But no worries, Future Readers, Karavan Press is going to bring out a new edition of the book soon.
I will be participating in two panels, one in which Mervyn Sloman of The Book Lounge will be chatting to Mbali Sikakana of NB, Eugene Ashton of JB, and me about the future of publishing. It will be fun!
And then, I will be chairing a session with Sue Nyamnjoy, Zibu Sithole and Diane Awerbuck and we will be talking about writing journeys.
Diane Awerbuck is a prizewinning writer, reviewer, editor and teacher. She writes femme/goth thrillers (Home Remedies); memoirs (Gardening at Night); pandemic cowboy thrillers (South, as Frank Owen; North, as Frank Owen); doctorates on trauma (The Spirit and the Letter); holy-wholly poetry (As above, so below); and short story collections (Cabin Fever; Inside your body there are flowers). She hopes you are sitting comfortably.
Zibu Sithole lives in Johannesburg with her son. She is a journalist with more than 10 years of experience writing for television and radio as well as print and digital media. She is a published ghostwriter of mainly romance novels. The Thing with Zola is Zibu’s first novel published under her own name.
Sue Nyamnjoh is a Cameroonian-born creative currently residing in Cape Town. She has a background in media studies and languages and holds a BA(Hons) from the University of Cape Town. Earlier this year (2023), Sue released her debut poetry collection. The anthology, [un]ravelling, explores universal themes of love, grief, joy, and loneliness from a deeply personal lens. Beyond literary pursuits, Sue enjoys large doses of music, food, and people, in no particular order. She is mother to a feline named Shola and various plants in questionable states of existence.
You can win a Karavan Press book hamper – among many other fantastic prizes – and support CLAWS (Clanwilliam Animal Welfare Society), an initiative that does miraculous good for animals in the Clanwilliam area.
Karina Magdalena 