#ReadingAfrica

This year, #ReadingAfricaWeek follows the roads, oceans, and page-breaks that African literature has always traveled. Crossing Pages, Crossing Borders looks at migration and mobility not just as subject matter — the journeys characters take, the borders they cross, the homes they leave or make — but as something built into the very life of a book: how a manuscript written in one language and one place ends up translated, republished, and re-read continents away; how a diaspora writer carries two (or three, or more) homes onto a single page; how a story itself migrates from oral tradition to print to screen to social feed.

We're asking: what does belonging look like when it's written down? What happens to an idea when it crosses a border — political, linguistic, generational, or genre? Who gets to be a reader when the book itself has been on the move?

Across the week, we'll spotlight books and voices that carry passports, or that write about people who do: immigrant stories, exile literature, diaspora memoirs, and the publishers, translators, and booksellers who make sure those stories don't stop moving once they leave the writer's hands. Because if there's one thing this year makes clear, it's that African literature was never meant to sit still.

2026 Events

Join Us for #ReadingAfrica Week 2026
November 2-7

"...my compatriot, write Africa, and read it even more. Let our imagination and hearts wander free to places that are truly ours, unrestricted by artificial structures, for have not our gatekeepers kept us apart for long enough?"

Sola Njoku, contributor Captive: New Short Fiction from Africa

“Storytelling is a constant reminder that borders are merely arbitrary constructs meant to perpetuate separation and otherness. At the core of it all, there is a shared human experience that drives narratives around the world."

Aba Amissah Asibon, contributor Captive: New Short Fiction from Africa

“This place called Africa. You think you know it... ...It is not until you pick up a book that you realize that you probably do not know this place called Africa — its many countries and peoples, its multitudes of languages and experiences, its overwhelming diversity and vibrancy — as well as you think you do. And that is the beauty and joy of reading African Literature — the constant discovery.”

Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author of The Quality of Mercy

What is #ReadingAfrica Week?

Catalyst Press started Reading Africa Week in 2017 as an annual celebration of African literature. We started this campaign to bring attention to writers who are doing diverse and genre-spanning work from every corner of the African continent. And because we’re an indie publisher, we really wanted to spotlight all of the great things our colleagues in the indie publishing world are doing to bring these voices to more readers. Each year, as more of our book-loving community—teachers, authors, librarians, booksellers, literary magazines—join in, the celebration has only gotten more expansive and exciting.

Sounds Great! When is it?

We hold the event each year for a full week in November or December. This year, that's November 2-7.

Oooh! Fun! I love African lit! How can I participate?

It's really easy! Join us by using the hashtags #ReadingAfrica or #ReadingAfricaWeek across social media platforms November 2-7. Use it to spotlight new books, old favorites, upcoming releases, and undiscovered gems you can't wait to share.

Who are some of the past participants?

Well, that's longer than we can list here because each year, this event has grown and grown. But since the start we've seen all kinds of amazing posts and events from indie publishers like Akashic Press, Cassava Republic, and Deep Vellum. Media outlets like Literary Hub, World Literature Today, and Arab Lit. Literary organizations like Global Literature in Libraries, Nal'ibali, and InterKontinental. Booksellers like Powells, Bookshop.org, and the American Booksellers Association. And libraries and readers from around the world.

What if I want to do more?

That's a great question! Every year, we've been thrilled to see how far beyond a hashtag the-little-campaign-that-could has gone. We've seen booklists, playlists, events, articles, reviews, bookstore displays, and more. If you want to make #ReadingAfrica Week an in-person or virtual to-do, just let us know! Let us know how you plan to celebrate by emailing us at publicity [at] catalystpress.org. We're happy to boost your event.

And if you'd like to partner with us on something special, reach out! This event is only bound by your imagination.

Read our African Titles

READ AFRICA

Events 2026

Language as Movement

How does translation carry stories across linguistic and cultural borders? From translating into indigenous African languages to bringing African literature to global audiences, what possibilities, responsibilities, and challenges come with moving stories between languages?

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Intimate Geographies a Poetry Workshop with Jane Kurtz

Capturing the Burning Details: How Verse Can Help

Do you have moments you've struggled to write? Hard ones? Sweet ones? Complicated ones?

For years, award-winning author Jane Kurtz taught both children and adults to use non-rhyming verse as a way of capturing unexpected sensory details around and inside of them. When her city went through a devastating flood, she discovered it was the only way she could express her emotions and communicate about the experience. The result was a picture book, River Friendly River Wild (Simon & Schuster) that won the Golden Kite award from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Decades later, she realized verse was also the only way to write about her childhood moving between Africa and the United States. Oh Give Me A Home (Catalyst Press) received starred reviews that praised her work as heartwarming, funny, buoyant, and relatable. Join in the conversation and exercises and see if writing in verse is a path for you, too.

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