You Know What I Could Be by Gary Cummiskey

Chatsworth: A Book Review by Karabo Kgoleng

"Set in the highly populated township of Chatsworth in KwaZulu-Natal, this collection of 11 short stories highlights working class life in a residential area that was allocated for South Africans of Indian descent during apartheid."

Snipes by Joan McNerney

My back “went out” and did not ask me to go with it.

Eva Jackson: 0116

Tender alerts: poem 1

Train 100 NGOs on wholesale and retailing
(Improbable? Non-profits must have much to do with trading).
NM University’s new arm that brings in money
Are doing literally everything, want expert panel, sonny.
They used to just get funded in some much more passive way
But now they’re doing skills dev, training, property, for pay.
That means they’re also part of a ginormous industry
That’s generating income for all kinds of entities
That used to get their moneys through a rather different wheeze.
I’m talking, yes I’m talking, all about the BEEs.
Quotations are invited for a signal-ish converter
The oldest thatch in Stilbaai needs replacing with a nuut-er
I didn’t make it up, the last one really is a thing
That’s what they said and publicised, an unexpected ping.
The Sharks Board on the east coast want someone to train small business
That’s exactly what I’m looking for so copy, paste, and witness.

My First Visit To The Forest by Gary Cummiskey

Söder Får Sveriges Första Antikvariat För Sci-fi

"70 kvadratmeter sci-fi, fantasy och skräck. Det är den nya given i Skanstull, när Lars Jansson och Magnus Lekberg nu öppnar det första antikvariatet i landet som är helt dedikerat åt genren."

Skyjacked: Kesivan Naidoo And The Tao Of Rhythm by Gwen Ansell

"World-travelling drummer Kesivan Naidoo grimaces as he glugs down a foul-looking fulvic acid brew. When you fly as much as he does, he explains, you need to guard your health. East London-born, now New York-based, Naidoo is back in South Africa for the launch tour of the South African/Swiss outfit Skyjack, as well as to reconnect with family and on- and offstage friends."

Portugese Canned Mackerel

I Don't Understand When You Talk by Gary Cummiskey

Niren Tolsi’s Moving Speech Takes Aim At The State Of SA Journalism

"Journalist Niren Tolsi, awarded the Ruth First Fellowship earlier this year, gave the annual Ruth First Lecture at the University of Witwatersrand on Thursday evening."

2018 Ruth First Memorial Lecture

Fire and Media: Towards a New South African Journalism by Niren Tolsi.

Niren Tolsi On Journalistic Integrity by Mwelela Cele

"Seasoned and acclaimed journalist Niren Tolsi gave the 15th Ruth First memorial lecture on 18 October. Tolsi, contributing editor at New Frame and co-founding editor of The Con, has worked at a number of leading South African newspapers. He writes about social justice, constitutional law and the politics of the judiciary, grassroots mobilisation and the state’s (often violent) responses to it, politics, the arts, jazz, and the politics of cricket."

A Song For The First Girl I Loved by Gary Cummiskey

Snipes by Joan McNerney

You can always send a letter to your legislators, if you think they can read.

Snipes by Joan McNerney

Ideal patients would be corpses although they usually don’t carry insurance.

Snipes by Joan McNerney

I was a kid back in the “stone age”.  We threw rocks at one another.

When I Last Saw The Silver Star by Gary Cummiskey

Nuts

The New Frontier Of Mineral Exploitation In Ghana

"Mining electronic waste is also more rewarding than traditional mining. United Nations University figures show that deposits of precious metals in electronic waste are up to 50 times richer than deposits underground. A ton of ore mined from the earth, for example, yields about 9kg of copper. A ton of electronic waste contains 15 times that amount – 131kg."

Pens

If I Were A Bell by Gary Cummiskey

Eleven Short Trips To Chatsworth by Darryl Accone

"Readers of Pravasan Pillay’s Chatsworth who know the place and its people say: “That’s the way they talk” or “I recognise that”. Having read the 11 short stories in this Dye Hard Press collection, I feel tempted to claim that now I know it too. Of course, I don’t really; rather, what I do is recognise it."

Austere Beauty Of Chatsworth by Niren Tolsi

"Pravasan Pillay is a literary ascetic. Chatsworth (Dye Hard Press, 2018), his collection of short stories, is largely unencumbered by adjectives and adverbs."

Cold Trail Of The Mystery Author by Darryl Accone

"Trying to identify the author of This Thing Has Got to Stop has taken many months, at the end of which I am no nearer finding out who Khafula was – or is, if he (or she) still lives."

As She Looked Down ... by Gary Cummiskey

Even Apartheid Couldn’t Kill TV’s Splendour By Mwelela Cele

"As a child, I found television fascinating. To my young mind, it was a magical instrument. How could people fit into a box that small? How was that box able to show me places that were so far away?"

Shafinaaz Hassim On Chatsworth

Chatsworth On World Cat

Find a copy in the library.

Food (Music Is The Weapon Of Choice!) by Gary Cummiskey

Indian Aunties And Ice Cream Containers

"If you have grown up in a South African Indian home you will know about the habit Indian aunties have of storing leftover or prepped food in old margarine and ice cream containers." 

New Frame

"New Frame is a not for profit social justice media project with a primary focus on news rather than opinion."

Chatsworth In Sweden

Not Going Very Far by Gary Cummiskey

BOOK REVIEW: Opening Up Soweto And Chatsworth With Stories

Niq Mhlongo’s fetching awkwardness contrasts with Pravasan Pillay’s dexterous appropriation of English, writes Hans Pienaar.

Francine Simon Reviews Chatsworth

Pravasan Pillay’s new collection of short stories, Chatsworth, is a literary necessity, writes Francine Simon.

Sunday Times Review of Chatsworth

The Queen Begins To Dream by Gary Cummiskey

A List of South African Indian Tomato Chutneys

1. Sausage chutney
2. Tin-fish chutney
3. Boiled egg chutney
4. Egg chutney
5. Prawn chutney
6. Shrimp chutney
7. Dried fish chutney
8. Chops chutney
9. Soya sausage chutney
10. Mince kebab chutney
11. Chutney

Colleen on Goodreads

saaleha i bamjee on Twitter

#amreading Chatsworth by Pravasan Pillay. Such artfully crafted characters, wonderfully nuanced tellings. Published by @GaryCummiskey pic.twitter.com/o1DibN2bfL

— saaleha i bamjee (@saaleha) June 30, 2018

From The Real World by Gary Cummiskey

Chatsworth Available At The Following Bookstores

DURBAN & PIETERMARITZBURG
*Exclusive Books, Pietermaritzburg.
*Exclusive Books at King Shaka International Airport
*Exclusive Books at Gateway Mall
* The Nelson Mandela Chatsworth Youth Centre

JO'BURG
*David Krut Bookstore
*Exclusive Books at OR Tambo International Airport

CAPE TOWN
*The Book Lounge

More bookstores will be added to this list in the coming weeks.

Dream Bigger Dear Potato, Dream Bigger

Chats ‘Home Swede Home’ For Author

"Durban - Inspired by his love for his hometown, a former Chatsworth resident now living in Sweden, released a book on the Durban township and the experiences encountered in the close-knit community of Montford. Pravasan Pillay, 40, who lives in Stockholm, completed the book titled Chatsworth in 2014 but only had it published recently."

Saturday In The Park by Gary Cummiskey

Chatsworth In Bookstores

My short story collection Chatsworth will soon be available in good bookstores countrywide. It is already available at David Krut Bookstore in Rosebank, Johannesburg, and The Book Lounge in Cape Town. Copies are also available for sale at the Nelson Mandela Youth Centre in Chatsworth, Durban, plus it can be ordered directly from the publisher at dyehardpress@iafrica.com.

Rising Sun 15 May 2018

Download a PDF of the Rising Sun, 15 May 2018 edition.

In A Foreign Place by Gary Cummiskey

Chatsworth on Good Reads

"Chatsworth is Pravasan Pillay’s debut short fiction collection and consists of eleven stories set in the sprawling township of Chatsworth, Durban."

Former Chatsworth Man Stays True To His Roots

"The book is entitled ‘Chatsworth’ and I believe that the township and its vibrant residents were my primary inspiraton. I grew up in Chatsworth so I am very familiar with the area. I don’t live in Chatsworth anymore however, having some distance, helped me write about it better."

Eyes

Let Me Get Back by Gary Cummiskey

On Fireball Jawbreakers

"I was probably about 10 years old when Fireball Jawbreakers where introduced into the South African market – or at least that was the age when I first become aware of them."

Eva Jackson: 0115

1977

You Think You Know Me by Gary Cummiskey

Indian Buses

"A former bus conductor, now photojournalist, has channelled his passion for Durban’s buses by writing a book that depicts the colourful history of the Indian bus industry."

Review of Chatsworth by René Bohnen

A nice mini-review of Chatsworth by the poet and photographer René Bohnen: "Such clean writing! Sober, unsentimental windows open onto the lives of characters who negotiate life and leave us wondering if they have slipped through the cracks or not. Bleak, but not depressing - a fascinating depiction of very ordinary days in a Chatsworth that seems timeless. Quiet portraits with lively and true dialogue, so familiar the vernacular. Well done, Pravasan and Dye Hard Press."

Chatsworth is available directly from the publisher for R160, including postage. For overseas orders, the cost is R220 including postage.

Email dyehardpress@iafrica.com to order.

The Boy Racer

"It’s with the greatest pleasure that we announce the winner, runners-up and finalists of the 2017 SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment short story competition. As always, there were many wonderful stories shortlisted, and our judges had their work cut out for them. So, a big thank you to our judges Blaize Kaye, Diane Awerbuck, Masha du Toit, Louis Greenberg, Tammy February and Efemia Chela.

Our winner for the 2017 competition is Pravasan Pillay, for his short story “The Boy Racer”. Our runners-up are Mlilo Mpondo and Ajibola Ogundiran. Huge congratulations are in order!"

Gathering Of The Presences by Gary Cummiskey

Victoria Williams: 0325

Texts I have sent, No.8

Indian Buses In Durban

"A unique part of South Africa's bus history has been written by the Indian community in Durban."

Nothing Like by Gary Cummiskey

cherry bomb: 0049

Chatsworth - Photo by Gary Cummiskey

New Publication From Dye Hard Press: Chatsworth by Pravasan Pillay

Dye Hard Press is proud to announce the publication of Chatsworth by Pravasan Pillay.

Chatsworth is Pravasan Pillay's debut short fiction collection and consists of eleven stories set in the sprawling township of Chatsworth, Durban. The stories are populated mostly by working-class characters who all, in one way or the other, find themselves on the margins of their community. There is an elderly mother and her dependent obese daughter who must fend for themselves; an angst-filled twelve-year-old girl who secretly chain smokes late at night; a tearful man who is incapable of passing his driving test; an albino girl who attains a fragile popularity in high school; a young woman who – against her father's wishes – falls in love with an immigrant; a seemingly placid pensioner who hides a shockingly violent side; and a pair of girls who bond over a love letter and hair bleach, among others.

The stories present sensitive yet unsentimental portraits of these characters, in prose that is spare and unadorned. Pillay additionally displays a remarkable ear for dialogue, and faithfully captures much of the nuance of Durban-Indian English.

Chatsworth is a gentle and moving book about growing up, being different, but also about failing at adulthood.

140 pages.

ISBN: 978-0-9869982-5-6.

Pravasan Pillay is a South African writer. He has published two chapbooks of poetry, Glumlazi (2009) and 30 Poems (2015), as well as a collection of co-written comedic short stories, Shaggy (2013). He is also the editor of the micro-press Tearoom Books.

Chatsworth is available directly from the publisher for R160, including postage. For overseas orders, the cost is R220 including postage.

Email dyehardpress@iafrica.com to order.

For Those Who Want To Be In Shoes by Gary Cummiskey

Proof Copy Of Chatsworth

Pic courtesy of Dye Hard Press's Gary Cummiskey. 

Victoria Williams: 0324

Texts I have sent, No.7

To See This Story Better, Close Your Eyes

Reid Gallery
17 February - 7 March 2018
Preview: Friday, 16 February, 5-7pm

Curated by Chloë Reid

An exhibition of film and writing by Thabo Jijana, Jemma Kahn, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Rosa Lyster, Mitchell Gilbert Messina, Njabulo Ndebele, Sean O'Toole, Pravasan Pillay, Chad Rossouw, Penny Siopis, Helen Sullivan and Marianne Thesen Law.

The exhibition title is taken from Banana Moon by Thabo Jijana, 2017.

To see this story better, close your eyes gathers the work of twelve artists and writers currently exhibiting and publishing in South Africa. Each of the films, audio recordings and texts featured in the exhibition employ narrative as a technique, subject or medium. The work is deliberately positioned in the gallery to prompt multiple and overlapping readings.

In Kiluanji Kia Henda's film, Havemos de Voltar (We Shall Return), Amélia Capomba, a stuffed sable antelope, plans her escape from the Archive Centre where she refuses to serve as a historical prop. Through found footage, text and music, Penny Siopis' film, The New Parthenon merges the mediations of an ordinary man's modern Greek history of war, globalization and migration. Helen Sullivan's poem, Mendi, describes the sinking of the British troopship in 1917 that killed 616 South Africans (most of them black South African troops). In Pravasan Pillay's Crooks, sixty-eight year old Kamla reflects on her life as she bathes and washes her adult daughter, Ambi. In Death of a Son by Njabulo Ndebele, a mother narrates the thorny process of grieving the death of her son under the apartheid regime. Thabo Jijana's Banana Moon is apprehensive of the festive character that accompanies a funeral.

Mitchell Gilbert Messina reveals the dark undercurrent of the commercial art world involving the ritual sacrifice of young artists in Detective Tales. Messina and Marianne Thesen Law collaboratively illustrate a clumsy and competitive dialogue of sexual fetish in the film, Fantasies Vol. 1. Sean O'Toole provides A Short History of Pleasure. Rosa Lyster delivers the commission, The People's Bird. Chad Rossouw considers the history of the appearance of the parrot in Western Literature, twice, in relation to Jemma Kahn's Somebody You've Already Painted Many Times from Memory. In Kahn's film, actors mimic an interview between David Sylvester and Francis Bacon.

This exhibition is curated by Chloë Reid, who has been generously assisted by Helen Sullivan in her capacity as editor of Prufrock magazine.

Chloë Reid was born in 1989 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has a bachelor in Fine Art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT (2011) and a Master of Fine Art from The Glasgow School of Art (2017). She is an artist and writer and is currently on a Fellowship at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Open Night by Gary Cummiskey

On Wimpy, Eating With Cutlery, And Melancholic Chicken Sandwiches

"Eating at real “sit-down” restaurants was something that I only first began tentatively exploring in my early twenties while I was a post-grad student at the then University of Durban-Westville."

Forthcoming From Dye Hard Press: Chatsworth by Pravasan Pillay

Peter by Pravasan Pillay

"“I have been waiting for you the whole morning. Let’s have a look at it,” Professor Viran Moodley said, directing Fazel to sit on the sofa opposite him."

Alchemical Wedding by Gary Cummiskey

cherry bomb: 0048

Victoria Williams: 0323

Texts I have sent, No.6

Famous South African Food Writers

Alex La Gumbo
J.M. Koeksister
Herman Charles Borschtman
Doris Dressing
Bessie Head Cheese
Cakes Mda
Mamphela Samphele
Athol Frugurt
Chow-mein van Niekerk
Mongane Wally Seroti
Nadine Gourdimer
Breyten Breytenbacon

An Interview With Lee Beckworth by Gary Cummiskey

Writer artist and musician Lee Beckworth aka Lee Kwo was born in Geelong in 1952/He started writing at 17 and completed a Degree at Deakin University in creative writing and Journalism in 1974/After travels in Europe he moved to Melbourne and completed a Bachelor of Letters in literature and psychology at Melbourne University/ He has published 5 works of fiction and 2 books of poetry/ His interests in music and photography have been expressed through the band Kicks and an exhibition of collages and photography in 2016/

You can read the interview with Lee at The Odd Magazine.

Unpacking Poetry by Haidee Kruger

Victoria Williams: 0322

Texts I have sent, No.5

Anything Can Happen

"Anything can happen: Bruno Sourdin in conversation with Gary Cummiskey, published on Empty Mirror."

Victoria Williams: 0321

Texts I have sent, No.4

The Rainbow Beauty Of Hashim Amla by Niren Tolsi

"Hashim Amla is an extraordinary batsman. He is also the living embodiment of a nation trying to express itself while healing."

2018