The dream is a day

 

B-movie incantations: a Dye Hard Interview with Doug Campbell

Doug Campbell
Photo courtesy of Janice Hathway

Doug Campbell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he still lives. He is an artist who works primarily in collage. When he was a child he discovered the word ‘surrealist’ in a science fiction novel and then was given a small book of surrealist paintings. This was the first step in an adventure that continues until this day. He has an ongoing engagement with the international surrealist movement through correspondence, collective games, and contributions to publications and group shows. 

When did you become interested in art and when did you start making art? At what point did you become acquainted with surrealism?

I don’t remember ever not being interested in art, in the widest sense, from my first picture books and comics onwards. I drew obsessively as a kid, grew up making and painting models and graduated into making posters for gigs as a teen and an adult. All this in spite of bad experiences at school, being told off for talking back to art teachers and having my work torn up in front of the class. Read more.

Pravasan Pillay on Literary Tourism

There is a nice wee entry on the Literary Tourism website about Pravasan Pillay, compiled just after the publication of his previous book, Aiyo!, and containing an extract from his short story 'Crooks' in his debut collection, Chatsworth.

Pillay's new book, Curry and Bread, is available from Exclusive Books, madeindurban.co.za, Love Books in Melville, Johannesburg, and Clarke's in Cape Town.

Pascal Ulrich material received

 

Received a load of material -- publications of art and poetry, postcards and an original artwork -- of French artist and poet Pascal Ulrich, from Robert Roman in France.

Last year I conducted a Dye Hard Interview with Roman about Ulrich's life and work.

Thank you, Robert Roman!

Outside the cave in hand

Good to see that Outside the cave: selected poems by Gary Cummiskey, has landed in the hands of Richard Pithouse.

Outside the cave contains a selection of 30 years' work, and is selected and introduced by Kobus Moolman. It was published by Dye Hard Press and copies are still available.

Contact cummiskeyg@gmail.com to order. Regret South Africa only, unless you are prepared for pay for an international courier.

 

Through the moods

 

Christmas is coming with Curry and Bread

Christmas is around the corner, so why not buy a copy - or even two copies - of Pravasan Pillay's new book Curry and Bread as a Christmas gift? It will definitely bring the reader(s) joy and laughter this festive season!

Curry and Bread is available from Exclusive Books, Clarke's in Cape Town, madeindurban.co.za, and Love Books in Melville, Johannesburg.

The presences prepare for Christmas

 

Drop out, turn on and tune in to I telephoned God

Drop out, turn on and tune in to 'I telephoned God', about 40 minutes of me reading my poetry, released by Sloow Tapes in Belgium.

I telephoned God was originally released on cassette tape.

Cover art by French poet and collagist Bruno Sourdin.

https://sloowtapes.bandcamp.com/album/gary-cummiskey-i-telephoned-god

Chatsworth at David Krut

 

I visited David Krut Bookstore in Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, today for the first time in about five years and was chuffed to see a copy of Pravasan Pillay 's Chatsworth, published by Dye Hard Press in 2018.

Pravasan's new book, Curry and Bread, is available from Exclusive Books, Love Books in Melville, Johannesburg, madeindurban.co.za and Clarke's in Cape Town.

Make this moment last

 

Curry and Bread at the Books & Chai Festival

Pravasan Pillay's new book, Curry and Bread, will be on sale at the Books & Chai Festival in Umhlanga, on Sunday 30 November.

Curry and Bread is also available from Exclusive Books in Gauteng, Love Books in Melville, madeindurban.co.za, and Clarke's in Cape Town.

Soft talk at midday

 

Good morning

 

A Dye Hard Interview: Manthipe Moila: poetry as language of leaping

 

Courtesy: Salomè Dubois Han 

Manthipe Moila is from Johannesburg, South Africa, and holds a BA honours degree in English Literature. Her work has appeared in publications such as Tupelo Quarterly, New Contrast, Stirring, A Long House, 20.35 Africa, Agbowó, and Saranac Review. She was a Charles Simic Poetry Contest finalist (Hole in the Head Review) and a Best of the Net Nominee (Hotazel Review). Rootbound is her debut poetry collection and was published by uHlanga in 2025. Manthipe is currently based in Seoul, South Korea.

Your poems are autobiographical in that they draw on your own experiences, from your past in South Africa and your present, adjusting to a new life in South Korea.  What are your thoughts about confessional poetry, and do you prefer such personal poetry to more objective, impersonal work? 

I love confessional poetry – it is the reason why I am enamored with poetry at all. As for objective, impersonal poetry, I’m not sure that I’ve come across much of it. Poetry is art and objective art seems to me a bit paradoxical. As I’ve matured as a reader and writer, I’ve found myself more and more drawn to poetry that plays with language ... Read more.

Adding curry spices to canned pea soup, and other tales from a Durbanite abroad

 

A warm and enthusiastic review of Pravasan Pillay's new book has been published in Daily Maverick.

Curry and Bread is available from Exclusive Books, Love Books in Melville, Johannesburg, madeindurban.co.za and Clarke's in Cape Town.