Recent News
ANNOUNCING: OPEN SUBMISSION DATES FOR 2024
We are excited to announce that we will be reading for the 2025 publication list. Submissions for manuscripts are only open for one month from 1 September 2024 – 30 September 2024. Please do not submit your work outside this window. Also ensure you read carefully and comply with the comprehensive manuscript submission guidelines that are posted on our website before submitting your work. Click on the link below to access these guidelines and pay your submission fee. Remember that the submission fee is not a reading fee. It ensures that we are able to send our shortlisted manuscripts for a second reading by qualified and experienced academics and poets.
INGRID JONKER PRIZE 2024
It is with delight that we announce that the debut collection by iyra e m maharaj , earth-circuit has been shortlisted for the 2024 Ingrid Jonker Prize. The five shortlisted collections include:
- Sarah Lubala – A history of disappearance
- iyra e m maharaj – earth circuit
- Sizakele Nkosi – unGrand Malume
- Caitlin Stobie – Thin slices
- Melissa Sussens – Slaughterhouse
We wait in anticipation for an announcement of the winner.
Cape Town LAUNCH of THE CREATIVE ARTS: ON PRACTICE MAKING & MEANING
Thank you so much to Exclusive Books, and especially the indomitable Linda McCullough, for hosting our latest book launch! The venue was packed and we delighted in sharing our newest publication with such a receptive audience. Thank you to our wonderful panellists, Sally Ann Murray, Annel Pieterse, Wamuwi Mbao, Liesl Jobson and Meg Vandermerwe for your refreshing and invigorating perspectives. And to everyone who attended the launch of The Creative Arts: On Practice, Meaning & Making: we are excited for you to enjoy our newest publication.
FORTHCOMING BOOK LAUNCHES: THE CREATIVE ARTS: ON PRACTICE MAKING & MEANING
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear our distinguished panel of authors in discussion in Johannesburg and Cape Town at the following events.
Dryad Press Poetry Collections are Award Winning!
We are delighted to announce that several of our Dryad Press titles have been recognised in two prestigious literary award categories in 2024:
The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) held its 9th Annual Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Book, Creative Collection and Digital Contribution Awards in March 2024. We are delighted to announce that P. R. Anderson’s Night Transit and Michèle Betty’s Dark Horse, were both announced as two of the five finalists in the Non-Fiction Poetry Category. We congratulate all the finalists and the winner and extend our thanks to the NIHSS for the recognition of our books.
The prestigious Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry was announced in the last week of March 2024 and we are delighted to say that once again, Dryad Press titles were announced as two of the five finalists. Linda Ann Strang’s Star Reverse and Michèle Betty’s Dark Horse, were both acknowledged. Once again, we thank the judges and organisers for the recognition given to our publications.
Cover Reveal -The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making & Meaning
Dryad Press is delighted to reveal the cover for our new book, forthcoming in May 2024, The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making & Meaning. This innovative and exciting book features a collection of fifteen essays on the transformative nature of creative arts across a broad spectrum of creative fields including poetry, prose, science fiction, dance, music, podcasting and others. Look out for essays by your favourite South African writers, academics and poets including, Vonani Bila, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, vangile gantsho, Ashraf Jamal, Liesl Jobson, Lliane Loots, Wamuwi Mbao, Kobus Moolman, Stephanus Muller, Sally Ann Murray, Masande Ntshange, Uhuru Phalafala, Annel Pieterse, Meg Vandermerwe and Simon van Schalkwyk. With a compelling foreword by renowned academic Gabeba Baderoon, these essays explore the challenges of producing creative work and offer critical insights that occur when imagination meets discipline.
The art that graces our cover is titled On Humankind i, by the talented Henrietta Scholtz.
Henrietta is a self-taught visual artist and curator, based at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Fordsburg, Johannesburg. She has an English Literature degree and an honours degree in Communications Management from VEGA. Henrietta has exhibited in group shows, including the Turbine Art Fair, the National Arts Festival, Sasol New Signatures, Thami Mnyele Fine Art Awards and The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s Long Minute. Since 2021, she has been the assistant curator of the SABC Art Collection. On Humankind, the cover art, is a two-part meditation on what it means to be a ‘self’ within a body created by those who have come before. It is an archaeology of the self (both created and creative) within the time-travel of meditation and thought, influenced by the Cradle of Humankind. In Henrietta’s words:
“We are process as we live and breathe everyday within our
bodies, communities and geographies. We are renewing
and regenerating and decaying. From flesh to bone to dust,
we continue the creative process of the physical, historical,
geographical, ancestral and temporal.”
Michele Betty’s Dark Horse is the recipient of the 2023 South African Literary Award for Poetry!
The SALA Awards on 7 November 2023 were an absolutely fabulous affair and Dryad Press is delighted to announce that Michele Betty’s Dark Horse was the winner of the 2023 South African Literary Award for Poetry. Thank you to the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, to wRite associates (especially the dynamic Kanya Mbuzane who worked tirelessly all night) and to the North West University, for an eclectic atmospheric evening interspersed with incredible singing talent and spoken word poetry. It was a night to remember…
POETRY LAUNCH IN CAPE TOWN of earth-circuit by iyra e m maharaj
Dryad Press is delighted to announce its forthcoming publication for October 2023, earth-circuit by iyra e m maharaj. In this collection, our debut poet transports us to a dreamscape where surreal imagination gives rise to an abundant range of ideas, experiences and images that prompt a new view on familiar and naturalised norms. These poems are strangely vital encounters of dream life and reconsidered waking that come to life, creating a powerful mythology of woman as energy, embracing an elemental witchy power. iyra will be in conversation with publisher and poet Michèle Betty. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear our poet discuss and read from this innovative and exciting collection!
Date: Wednesday, 4 October
Venue: The Bookshoppe, 3 Arts Village, 260 Main Road, Plumstead, Cape Town
Time: 18: 30 for 19:00
RSVP: ray@thebookshoppe.co.za
Contact: Ray van Wyk
FORTHCOMING IN OCTOBER 2023
“….what you never knew you knew.” – Phillippa Yaa de Villiers
Dryad Press is delighted to announce its, forthcoming publication for October 2023, earth-circuit by iyra e m maharaj. In this collection, our debut poet transports us to a dreamscape where surreal imagination gives rise to an abundant range of ideas, experiences and images that prompts a new view on familiar and naturalised norms. The poems are strangely vital encounters of dream life and reconsidered waking that come to life, creating a powerful mythology of woman as energy, embracing an elemental witchy power.
Look out for our announcement of the launch dates which will be in October in Cape Town, and take advantage of our pre-launch special offer: purchase any two Dryad Press collections one of which is earth-circuit and receive 40% discount on your order.
Shop Pre-Launch Special
Upcoming Events
Published Books
Purchase Our Titles Internationally
