The Jakes Gerwel Foundation, Huisgenoot and LitNet proudly announce this year’s successful candidates, chosen to spend three weeks at Paulet House in KwaNojoli under the guidance of our mentor, Fourie Botha, to work on their short stories aimed specifically at Huisgenoot’s family market.
This year’s Kommadagga workshop participants include Keamogetswe Koenaite, Kgomotso Tsotetsi, Paballo Sekoto, Rushdiyah Narker and Ọbáfẹ́mi Thanni.
Keamogetswe Koenaite is a South African writer whose creative work spans fiction, non-fiction and poetry. His writing is deeply lyrical, emotionally vulnerable, and rooted in memory, identity and quiet moments of transformation. Influenced by both musical storytelling and literary giants such as Ocean Vuong and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Koenaite crafts pieces that explore the soft and sacred places inside the everyday. Whether writing about fractured families, first loves or faith rediscovered in a taxi, he invites readers into a world where silences have echoes and softness is strength.
Kgomotso Tsotetsi
Kgomotso Tsotetsi is a multidisciplinary storyteller, writer and visual thinker. Whether through words or images, is drawn to narratives that reflect the quiet depth of human emotion and the ways in which story can become both sanctuary and revolution. Their work includes short stories, poetic essays, stage pieces and visual compositions. remains devoted to one enduring purpose: to create work that invites wonder, restores feeling, and makes the world more bearable, one story at a time.
Paballo Sekoto is an emerging writer who was born and raised in Lesotho, and is now married and lives in South Africa. Her short story, Utopians from the Enclave, was shortlisted for the Bold anthology by Ibua Journal in 2021, and her essay won the World Bank Blog4Dev 2021. She publishes her essays on her LinkedIn profile and short stories on her blog, Paballo Writes. When she is not reading or writing, she runs long distances or hikes. She is also a part-time chartered accountant.
Rushdiyah Narker is a Cape Town-based author who drafts stories that focus on love, culture and identity. Growing up surrounded by family and constant wedding planning, and now an entrepreneur in the wedding industry herself, she’s always been drawn to the stories that unfold around her. While pursuing a master’s degree in social anthropology, she discovered a passion for writing about her community through fiction. When she’s not writing or studying, she’s living her own story with her husband, their four daughters, and their five cats.
Ọbáfẹ́mi Thanni is a Nigerian poet whose works of poetry and fiction have received Pushcart Prize nominations. An alumnus of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study’s Writers’ Workshop, his works have appeared in the 20.35 Africa anthology, Lolwe, SAND and elsewhere. He was shortlisted for the Writing Fellowships at A Public Space in 2023 and for The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize in 2022. He also received an honourable mention from the Berlin Writing Prize in 2022.
Congratulations to all of the successful candidates! We look forward to reading your stories.
Die Jakes Gerwel Stigting, Huisgenoot en LitNet kondig met trots aan die suksesvolle kandidate wat vanjaar gekies is om vir drie weke in Paulet Huis in KwaNojoli onder leiding van ons bekwame mentor, Fourie Botha, te skaaf aan kortverhale wat spesifiek gemik is op Huisgenoot se gesinsmark. LitNet bied verdere blootstelling aan die jong skrywers en die projek en bied moontlike verdere publikasie-geleenthede.
Vanjaar se Kommadagga-slypskool deelnemers sluit in Keamogetswe Koenaite, Kgomotso Tsotetsi, Paballo Sekoto, Rushdiyah Narker en Ọbáfẹ́mi Thanni.
Baie geluk aan al die suksesvolle kandidate! Ons sien uit daarna om julle stories te lees.
