This Week in Literary News: Week of January 24

SMALL MERCIES

In Catalyst news, Bridget Krone’s Small Mercies was just named an Outstanding International Book by the U.S. Board of Books for Young People (USBBY)! This is the second time a Catalyst Press book has won this prize, starting with Futhi Ntshingila’s We Kiss Them with Rain. And a new translation from Ivanka Hahnenberger, the translator for our upcoming graphic novel Madame Livingstone, was just awarded the prestigious Batchelder Award! The Batchelder Award celebrates outstanding children’s books from outside of the United States that have been translated into English. The winning book, Catherine’s War (HarperCollins), was originally published in France in 2017 and tells the story of a Jewish girl named Catherine who is forced to change her identity during World War II. Madame Livingstone, our newest graphic novel about an unlikely friendship in the Congo during World War I, is available from Catalyst Press in June. Congratulations to Bridget and Ivanka!

In celebrity book news, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade wrote a children’s book, Shady Baby, inspired by their daughter and scheduled for release in May. Also in May, Big Short author Michael Lewis is releasing a new book, this time about the group that anticipated the global pandemic. Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard is starting a book club, and so is Jeffrey Sachs. Maria Shriver is starting up an imprint at Penguin called The Open Field. Quentin Tarantino signed a two-book deal with Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, the first of which will be the director’s first work of fiction, based on his film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Speaking of the film, its co-star Margaret Qualley will be starring alongside Sigourney Weaver for the movie treatment of the breakout 2014 memoir My Salinger Year, out March 5th.

Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of January 24”

Coming in 2021: You’re a Star, Lolo by Niki Daly

For the next few weeks, we’ll be spotlighting our upcoming releases for the new year. You’ll learn a bit about our 2021 releases, their authors, and information about pre-ordering.

Niki Daly

We’ve been so proud to be the North American publisher for author/illustrator Niki Daly’s Lolo series of books for new solo readers. Niki is an award-winning and much beloved author of numerous books for children, and we’re excited to bring the exuberant, fun-loving, and curious Lolo to even more readers.

We’ve already published Here Comes Lolo and Hooray for Lolo, which were both praised by critics and both named Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections. We’re adding one more of Niki’s delightful books to our catalog— You’re a Star, Lolo— set for release in April 2021. Continue reading “Coming in 2021: You’re a Star, Lolo by Niki Daly”

This Week in Literary News, Week of September 27

There’s lot to celebrate this week!

Dark Traces
Dark Traces by Martin Steyn

Wednesday was International Translation Day, the perfect excuse to celebrate Catalyst Press’ amazing translators: Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds (translator of The Farm and The Wall by Max Annas), Elsa Silke (translator of Sacrificed by Chanette Paul), Martin Steyn (author and translator of Dark Traces), and Ivanka Hahnenberger (translator of our upcoming graphic novel Madame Livingstone). Thank you for your commitment to bringing new voices to global readers!

It’s also Banned Book Week! According to the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, 8 of the 10 most banned and challenged books in 2019 included LGBTQIA+ content. (And because that sucks and we could all use some queer lit, here’s Fall’s most anticipated LGBTQIA+ Young Adult books and Emily Hashimoto on writing queer romance.) Washington Post critic Ron Charles read all ten and gives a rundown. Channeling your inner Ray Bradbury? Check out the full list of the top 100 most banned and challenged books of the decade. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News, Week of September 27”

This Week in Literary News: Week of August 16

This week’s news is up a little later than usual, but filled with enough news to get you through your week ahead!

Jacana Media has issued its annual call for the Gerald Kraak Prize and Anthology, an anthology and prize on the topics of gender, human rights and sexuality, for writers and photographers across Africa. Submissions are open all year.

Speaking of Jacana, we’re pretty impressed with their “Don’t Shut Up” conversation, masterclass, and broadside series. If you haven’t checked these out, you should. You can catch up on old conversations at their Crowdcast website.

Publishers Weekly reports that even though many independent bookstores have closed permanently, some brave, entrepreneurial book-lovers have actually opened new bookstores during the pandemic! And they are succeeding! We love bookstores and are pleased to hear it. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of August 16”

This Week in Literary News: Week of August 9

All this month we’re having a Summer Friday sale where you can save big (really big. 40% off big) on a themed selection of our titles. Last week it was out kids/YA books, and this week, we’re celebrating our women authors. Save 40% on some great books by using the code SUMMERFRIDAYS when you check out. This sale is only available when you order through our site.

Sacrificed

And speaking of women authors, this month is Women in Translation month, a great opportunity to read globally. Started in 2014 by book blogger Meytal Radzinski, this month-long celebration of world literature focuses on women authors who write in languages other than English. According to stats on Radzinski’s blog, “approximately 30% of new translations into English are of books by women writers.” Women in Translation Month encourages readers to seek out and promote these books. Use the hashtags #WomeninTranslation or #WitMonth to share your reads and to find book recommendations. CLMP also has a helpful list of titles to get you started, including our own Sacrificed by Chanette Paul. Want some more ways to broaden your reading horizons? Check out these Q&As from translators Elsa Silke, who translated Sacrificed, and Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds who translated The Wall and The Farm by Max Annas (The Wall is out now, The Farm releases September 15).

And let’s keep talking about women, because honestly, why not? The Smithsonian celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave many women in the US the right to vote, by highlighting 19 suffrage stories that history has often overlooked. As they write on the project’s website, “For many women, especially women of color, the fight didn’t end when the 19th Amendment went into effect on August 26, 1920.” Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of August 9”

This Week in Literary News

First things first: exciting news for our Catalyst readers! Every Friday of August, we’ll be hosting a sale on our website featuring titles of a certain theme. Today’s sale – 40% off both the physical and e-books of all of our Children’s and YA titles when you use the code SUMMERFRIDAYS at checkout! Tune in every Friday to find out the theme of next week’s sale. Next Friday (drum roll please!), our literary ladies take the stage with a sale on all female-authored Catalyst titles!

“It” is official! Stephen King has a new novel coming out next March. Matthew McConaughey is adding “author” to his résumé, and Lebron James is getting in the (writing) game with a new children’s book. Team Edward? You’re going to love this: Stephanie Meyer, the YA goddess who gave us Twilight, just gave us one more.  Midnight Sun hit shelves this week and the series’ cult following is going berserk. Ryan Reynolds is making a movie based an essay in the popular New Yorker column, “Shouts & Murmurs,” and Dan Sheehan’s announcement of it makes the news even better.

Still behind on reading the 2020 Booker longlist? Let Electric Lit decide your next pick for you, based on your quarantine habits. And because I’m a sucker for a good book quiz, head over to Book Riot to find out what pop culture librarian you are. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News”

This Week in Literary News: Week of July 26

Hello everybody! We’re back for this week’s literary roundup

Not surprisingly, COVID-19 continues to affect the publishing industry. This week, Charlie’s Corner, a children’s bookstore in San Francisco closed, and Powell’s in Portland, Oregon closed its airport store. Both bookstores said they hoped to be return in some fashion but can’t predict the future. Barnes & Noble, however, is reopening stores. While overall, book sales have plummeted in 2020, booksellers in Italy, Romania, and France have reported a recent sales spike. According to Shelf Awareness, Black-owned bookstores are continuing to see record sales of key Black-authored titles. Our own amazing marketing manager, Ashawnta Jackson, wrote an piece a couple of weeks ago about the first Black-owned bookstore in the US, and the importance of these stores in Black communities.

In awards news:

The Theory of Flight

Two African writers, Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe, This Mournable Body) and Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia, The Shadow King), were longlisted for the Booker Prize. We’re pleased. We’re longtime fans of Tsitsi Dangarembga, plus she has blurbed a forthcoming book from Catalyst Press, The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Ndlovu. [Ed Note: This post was written before we heard about Tsitsi’s arrest in Zimbabwe earlier today. Tsitsi was arrested along with several others at a protest both against government corruption and calling for the release investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono. We stand with Tsitsi and all fighting for justice and free expression]

The 2020 Caine Prize winner was also announced, with Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okojie winning with her short story “Grace Jones,” about a Grace Jones impersonator with a dark secret. Visit the Caine Prize site to read Irenosen’s story, and those of the other shortlisted authors. It’s a great story to end the week.

Small Mercies

In Catalyst News, Bridget Krone, who wrote Small Mercies, was interviewed by The Witness in South Africa. And SarahBelle Selig, our Office Manager based in Cape Town, interviewed our partner-in-crime at our South African distributor LAPA Uitgewers, Izak de Vries. Izak is a big friend and promoter of Catalyst’s titles in South Africa and we’re glad we were able to highlight him in this short video interview as part of our ongoing interview series, Conversations With…