New writing
Fiction and prose by established and emerging authors. Send your poetry or fiction to New Writing at skryfwerk@litnet.co.za to be considered for publication on LitNet.
Please note that work previously published in print or on any online media platform will not be considered for selection.
Just our luck
2019-04-09"He was still a dream. Roberto, Roberto, Roberto. She had phoned him once. Once was all it took to realise that her dream of him didn’t quite match up to the reality of him. She didn’t even think of her own dignity and pride."
Press release: Cape Town Library Book – Writing my City
2019-04-03"In the coming months, libraries will be running workshops to aid you in honing your writing skills. All of this will culminate on the 15th of June when you will be able to submit your piece for consideration at participating libraries. The finalists' pieces will then be included in the #WritingmyCity anthology which will be launched at Open Book Festival 2019!"
Eye of the storm
2019-03-20"Come down from where you are; come down from your house, your horse, your wedding carriage, your mountain of mountains. Your mouth is a summer in New York."
Flower festival
2019-03-20"The sweated-out, nudging prize-giving:
Neurotic nasturtiums pant for accolade,
Then frown,
Bow down;
Judges criticise their presentation."
Four poems by Tony Ullyatt
2019-03-14"The road quakes beneath approaching hooves:
six dark shapes – ears, eyes, nostrils – and a colossal
presence come to the abrupt halt of confrontation."
The language of bougainvillea
2019-03-07"Jakes, you’re the scavenger, his stage-actress mother called him. You’re never going to get married, are you, Playboy? You’re never going to give me grandchildren. I don’t understand this. I don’t understand you. Was there some traumatic incident in your childhood that I just don’t know about?"
Three poems by Heidi Henning
2019-03-06"on those nights
I am home-grown,
cared for, cured from cold"
Energies
2019-02-27"We would be young forever
If we acknowledged lifelong learning
We would be forever young
Through new achievements and mistakes"
The prize
2019-02-27"Her hair was combed into a neat side parting, and she was pleased with how it fell to just above her shoulders. She looked her age, but she looked good. She decided to go with the black polo neck top, with pearl earrings as her only adornment ..."
The adoption
2019-02-19"The doctor suddenly looked up from his phone. His face had turned red. He started to walk towards the clubhouse, and then suddenly turned around and walked towards Gareth, facing him. They stood facing each other."
Three poems by Abigail George
2019-02-06"Look at the winter leaf. Look at how it gathers
under your bedroom window. Look at the
arrangement of light as it falls on this cool
as spring Monday afternoon."
First Impressions
2019-01-30"He never did text me. Charlie, I mean. We went on as if the kiss had never happened."
“Time” writing competition: Interview with Rethabile Sindi
2019-01-24"I take Afrikaans as home language. Being the only black student in my class I wanted to highlight what makes me stand out in a crowd."
Kyle Allan appointed editor of New Coin
2018-12-07"Kyle also plans to build a stronger media presence for New Coin; to feature forgotten or under-rated poets from the past; and to publish poetry from other South African languages in English translation."
Full circle
2018-11-06"Her water had broken ten minutes before, but she knew there was still a lot more anguish to go through before it could get here. It. The baby."
Never going back
2018-09-06"Thomas had given her a map. She thought that she would never be lost again. Judith loved Thomas. She also knew that he didn’t feel the same way about her. That there was no earthquake shattering him into millions of pieces when they kissed or touched each other."