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.
Death, the dressmaker
2019-07-24"All we want deep down is that
perfect dressmaker who
knows when the time is nigh"
Like writer father, like poet daughter
2019-05-03"That’s being honest, and after the rain
she’s Jean Rhys, and during the rain she edits me
away, censors me, declares me Mrs Rochester.
Her hands smell like spaghetti."
Two poems by Carla du Preez
2019-04-24"She will hope against all hope
that her day will seem brighter
through concealer and dark glasses."
Introducing the third dimension in this modern era
2019-04-24"I remember now. I remember everything. I remember my brother’s defiance, my mother’s tears and heartache and defeatist attitude. The music school behind her eyes, and I would see the sea in his father’s knuckles."
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."