With the year well underway, but with some dew still on it, Salon Hecate will present a book launch with a difference in March. Join us Tuesday, 12 March, 5.30 for 6pm, until 7pm. Entrance is free, and all are welcome.
Local author and Fish Hoek resident Diane Awerbuck brought out Inside Your Body There Are Flowers, her second collection of short stories, with Karavan Press late last year. It’s time to celebrate it with a Deep South event, and we’re trying something new: focusing on why we write rather than what we write.
Diane will join acclaimed Cape Town authors Cathy Park Kelly and Joy Watson in a discussion of writing as therapy and a form of healing — personal, private or public. Creativity can be a form of catharsis and closure — in Cathy’s words, “stories can crack open doors and offer seams of light in the dark.”
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” Anne Lamott
All three authors have taken personal experiences and traumas and transformed them, respectively, into short stories, a debut novel, and a memoir. We haven’t forgotten poetry, or the magic of prescribing poems for pain or indeed deep joy, so you’ll also get to hear some poems on the night.
About the authors
Diane Awerbuck
Diane Awerbuck is a prizewinning author, reviewer and teacher. She has written femme/goth thrillers (Home Remedies); a memoir (Gardening at Night); pandemic/cowboy science fiction (South, as Frank Owen; North, as Frank Owen); a doctorate on trauma (The Spirit and the Letter); poetry (As above, so below) and short story collections (Cabin Fever; Inside your body there are flowers).
Cathy Park Kelly
Cathy Park Kelly is a writer and English teacher living in Cape Town with her husband and son. She has worked with people from all walks of life, from teenagers and inner-city artists to business executives and prisoners. She is also an entrepreneur who sells 3D design software. Her first book, Inside Outside, a memoir of teaching juvenile offenders awaiting trial, was quoted by the Minister of Correctional Services in a speech — the closest she ever wants to get to Parliament. In December 2021, her second memoir, Boiling a Frog Slowly, was published by Karavan Press.
Joy Watson
Joy Watson is a distinguished feminist researcher and writer who has worked extensively with women’s rights organisations and social justice movements both in South Africa and globally. Together with Amanda Gouws, she co-edited the book Nasty Women Talk Back: A Collection of Feminist Essays on the Global Women’s Marches (Imbali, 2018). Her debut novel, The Other Me (Karavan Press, 2022), was shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Prize. She is passionate about using the arts to think about social change, and her most recent book is Striving for Social Equity, a collection of essays edited with Ogochukwu Nzewi.
Salon details
Date and time: TUESDAY (note: Salons now take place on Tuesday evenings) 12 March, 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. You can check the Salon Hecate tab for notes on accessibility.
Note that this Salon will take place on the SECOND Tuesday of March: we’ll revert to the first Tuesdays from April onwards (so mark 2 April in your calendar, as we’ll be having a special event that night to echo our Out The Box exhibition/competition).
Books on the Bay
Join us at Books on the Bay! More exciting Salon news and events for March: we’re thrilled to have been invited to take part in the Books on the Bay literary festival in Simonstown, 22-24 March. You can catch a dynamic line-up of local poets at Willets Hotel on Saturday 23 March at 2.30pm. Your ticket gets you complimentary bubbles or juice and snacks. The venue is intimate, so book early via Webtickets.
Accessibility notes
The gallery itself is wheelchair accessible — parking, ramp and no steps into the gallery itself. BUT (sadly) we do not have a wheelchair-friendly toilet. You can certainly use the toilet if you have a companion to assist you — you will need to lock the outer door of the bathroom while you use it.
If you are visually impaired, some of our sculptural and three-dimensional works are designed to be felt and stroked. Please feel free to ask for guidance, or make an appointment so our friendly galleristas can help you to let your fingers do the walking.