We are so excited and honoured to have Karen Jennings join us at 6pm (CAT) on September 1st for a Zoom conversation with me. Karen’s third novel, An Island was recently nominated for the 2021 Booker Prize. It is published by Holland Park House and in SA by Karavan Press. Karen lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil with her husband, and is working on her second PhD, this time in history. She’s published three novels, a memoir, a short story collection and a collection of poems. She’s won a number of awards and has been the recipient of several writers residencies.
What you might not know is that Karen was an intern for Modjaji in 2011. She has continued to work for us as a freelance editor, and edited a number of titles such as Bom Boy by Yewande Omotoso, The Unfamous Five by Nedine Moonsamy, This Day by Tiah Beautement, Witch Girl by Tanvi Bush, most recently Women out of Water by Sally Cranswick. I’m fortunate that my own short story collection, Looking for Trouble was also edited by Karen.
In the year that Yewande Omotoso and Karen Jennings were both shortlisted for the inaugural Etisalat prize, it was a double win for Modjaji Books. Unlike many other prizes the Etisalat bought 1000 copies from the local publisher for distribution into Africa. Finding Soutbek was published by Holland House, based in the UK. They made an arrangement with Modjaji to be the African publisher to provide the 1000 copies for distribution. It was a huge job for us to distribute 2000 books from my home/office.
If you would like to attend the Zoom event, please email: info@dna945.dnaclient.co.za to register. And then you will need to either pay R300 to this link or send us proof of purchase of a Modjaji title made in August 2021. We will send the Zoom link on the day of the event.