Tiger

by Kerry Hammerton (Contributor)

Tiger is the result of the inaugural Karavan Stories Workshop & Anthology project. All the contributors gathered for a writing workshop at the end of April. Together, we discussed the intricacies of the short story, went through several writing exercises, decided on a theme for our anthology and began exploring ideas for individual stories. In the following months, we kept in touch, drafting and redrafting, until the book you are holding in your hands took shape.

The theme was inspired by a news story that dominated the headlines early this year: an eight-year-old tigress named Sheba escaped from a private farm in Gauteng and in the following days attacked a man and killed a few domestic animals before she was shot by officials. As it was impossible to safely contain and capture the wild feline in the area where she was eventually found, the decision was taken to euthanise her. Sheba’s death renewed debates around the injustice and cruelty inflicted on exotic animals held in captivity.
Touched by Sheba’s story, we chose her kind to inspire Tiger. Contributors could work with the theme in any way they wished, either reimagine it, see it as a springboard or a metaphor, or let their imaginations run wild. The stories which emerged interpret ‘tiger’ as the unknown, untamed or foreign in our lives – what we fear and what we long for, sometimes simultaneously. The authors play with phrases like ‘tiger mom’ and ‘when tigers smoked’ – the evocative Korean equivalent of ‘once upon a time’ – as well as wrestle with ideas, states and emotions which refuse to be captured in words. In their stories, they retrieve familiar fables and fairy tales to interpret the complexities of the present and speculate about the future …

Contributors: Lucienne Argent, ChatGPT, Gail Gilbride, Kerry Hammerton, Anna Hug, Desiree-Anne Martin, Karen Martin, Michelle A. Meyer, Warren Jeremy Rourke, Anita Shapiro, Caitlin Spring, Alexandra Wood

154 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2023

About the author

Kerry Hammerton is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Reading is her first passion although writing poetry is a close second. She has published poetry and prose in South African and international literary journals and anthologies, most recently Hallelujah for 50ft Women (Bloodaxe Books: 2015), and Cutting Carrots the Wrong Way (Uhlanga Press: 2017) and Tiger (Karavan Press; 2023). She has four poetry collections: These are the lies I told you (Modjaji 2010), The Weather Report (2014), Secret Keeper (Modjaji 2018) and afterwards (Karavan Press 2023). In 2024 and 2025 Kerry edited In Other Stories (Karavan Press) an anthology of flash fiction and creative non-fiction

Kerry has an MA in Creative Writing (with distinction) from Rhodes University, and is currently a freelance creative writing Lecturer and supervisor for the programme.

Kerry also works with individual writers in an editing, and writing development capacity. She works with writers who are developing their poetic voice in a written format, and putting together poetry collections. Kerry also works with prose writers on flash, short stories and longer projects.