Category: Events

This Week in Literary News: Week of April 4

Young Blood

This month is full of chances to see Catalyst authors in action. First up, catch Catalyst publisher/founder Jessica Powers and her brother and Broken Circle (Akashic Books) co-author Matthew as part of Cochise College’s Community Creative Writing Celebration on April 16. The reading will be followed by a Q&A, then an open mic. Learn more here. And on April 21, you can catch Sifiso Mzobe, author of the award-winning novel Young Blood, as he steps on the virtual stage for Stony Brook University’s Creative Writing and Literature Writers Speak Wednesday series. The event will be streamed live on the university’s YouTube channel. More information here. Sifiso’s novel is out on April 13.

In other news, following the controversy around American Dirt, Michael Ugarte of Africa is a Country, raises questions about another book, Palmeras en la Nieve, whose “critical reception among historians of Spanish colonization efforts in Africa has been less than positive.”

“Animals have inspired writers since the beginning of the written word” The New York Times presents “Writer’s Best Friend,” a look at some notable writers furry friends, including Jackie Collins’ poodle, George Orwell’s goat, Muriel, and Toni Morrison’s cat.  Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of April 4”

Why We’re #ReadingAfrica

We’re wrapping up another #ReadingAfrica Week (you can read all of our posts celebrating this year’s event here), and this might have been the best one yet! We love celebrating these books and these authors every day, but it means so much to take a few special days to really let the world know how much this work means to us.

For this last post of the week, we’re going to turn the spotlight on ourselves (well, our authors) to celebrate and thank them for sharing their stories with us. We asked a few of them (and some of the Catalyst team) to tell us why they love #ReadingAfrica, some of their favorite books, and why these stories need to be shared everywhere. Continue reading “Why We’re #ReadingAfrica”

#ReadingAfrica 2020 Events

This year we’ve teamed up with the literature-loving folks at LitNet to present two virtual events in conjunction with our #ReadingAfrica Week celebration. We’d love to have you join us!

#ReadingAfrica Events:

December 6 12:00 PM EST/7:00 PM South Africa: A #ReadingAfrica Week Kickoff

Authors and publishers discuss the landscape of African literature and publishing, featuring Justin Cox (African Books Collective), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Theory of Flight), Jessica Powers (author/Catalyst Press founder), Rešoketšwe Manenzhe (Scatterlings) and Ahmed Ismail Yusuf (The Lion’s Binding Oath), Izak De Vries (LitNet), moderates.  12:00 PM EST/7:00 PM South Africa

Watch the full event here

December 9 12:00 PM EST/7:00 PM South Africa: #ReadingAfrica Crime Writers Panel

A discussion on the rise of African crime fiction, featuring: Sifiso Mzobe (Young Blood), Mike Nicol (Sleeper), Ameera Patel (Outside the Lines), Jessica Powers (Catalyst Press founder), and Bettina Wyngaard (Jagter), Michael Sears (the Detective Kubu Series) moderates.

Watch the full event here

This Week in Literary News: Week of July 19

We lost civil rights hero and U.S. Representative John Lewis this week, who died on July 17 at the age of 80. You should go and read everything he’s ever written, but in the meantime, read this Brain Pickings feature and ten of his best quotes on getting into “good trouble.”

THE FARM

Here at Catalyst, we celebrated the South African release of Max Annas’ thriller The Farm (translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds) with a virtual book launch with Boekemakranka featuring Izak DeVries of LAPA Uitgewers, our South African distributor. The Farm is out now in South Africa, and comes to North American readers in September (you can pre-order it here).

Calling all His Dark Materials fans: Phillip Pullman just announced a new novella based on the bestselling series, to be released in October. And in comic news: the original 2003 Walking Dead comic book is being re-released in full color, and A-list action star Keanu Reeves is writing a comic book (and casually slipped that he’d like to play the lead character in a movie rendition – so that’s probably happening).

ICYMI: in early June, a bunch of big-name authors (including Atwood, Gladwell, Rowling, Rushdie, and Steinem) penned an open letter about the dangers of cancel culture in Harper’s Magazine. But then a counter letter was released in The Objective, calling out the authors of the Harper’s letter for writing from a place a privilege (among other grievances). Catch up on the drama here. NPR responded with typical Swiss neutrality vibes by getting authors from both letters on a podcast together.

African Arguments released a three-part interview with the 2020 AKO Caine Prize Nominees. Check out Part 1 on joy and writing, Part 2 on reading and the politics of prizes, and Part 3 on what it means to be mainstream.

COVID-19 has hit the book world hard: according to a survey from nonprofit Americans for the Arts, 253 literary organizations reported over $7.2 million total losses to date. But it’s not all bad: with bookstores and festivals shut down, big box retailers like Walmart and Costco have been helping readers get their fix, and three literary nonprofits teamed up with the Mellon Foundation this week to create a Literary Arts Emergency Fund, distributing $5,000 to $50,000 grants to literary organizations across the United States. And one book festival in the United Kingdom came up with an innovative way to bring joy to book lovers at a distance: a drive-in book fair. If Britain is a bit too far for a road trip, Book Riot has a handy list of some upcoming virtual book events. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of July 19”

This Week in Literary News, Week of July 12

Literary news, world news, and life news was all a lot last week, which is why you didn’t see one of these posts last week. But we’re back, refreshed (sort of) and ready to bring you all of the bookish news you can handle!

“We all want wellness. I believe racism is a disease, and that healing can begin by reading to the kids in our lives, starting with children of the youngest ages.” Author Andrea Davis Pinkney writes about the power Black stories for NPR Books. Pinkey is also one of the judges for NPR’s Summer Reader’s Poll, which will create a list of 100 kids’ books based on readers’ suggestions. While the poll is closed now, be sure to check back to see the final list.

Language is always evolving, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when new words are added to the lexicon. However, Merriam-Webster‘s recent addition of irregardless, has been the subject of a lot of debate. However, as Merriam-Webster pointed out on their blog, The Words of the Week, the word has been “in widespread and near-constant use since 1795. […] We do not make the English language, we merely record it.”

Last week’s issue of the New York Times‘ magazine was a fiction issue featuring short stories from 29 authors, each speaking to our current moment. Called “The Decameron Project,” the issue was “inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s “The Decameron,” written as the plague ravaged Florence in the 14th century.” The issue features stories by Uzodinma Iweala (Beasts of No Nation), Leila Slimani (The Perfect Nanny), and Dinaw Mengestu (All Our Names), among others. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News, Week of July 12”

The Remote Reading Series: Niki Daly

Since many literary events have been cancelled recently, and since sharing art is always important, we here at Catalyst HQ have decided to put on a remote reading series. Over the next days/weeks, we’ll be releasing videos of our authors/editors. These are tough times, and we hope that our books (and all arts) are playing a part in helping you through them. See the other installments here.

Next up: Niki Daly! Niki is the award-winning author/illustrator of several books for children. We are so excited to be able to bring his Lolo series to US readers. The Lolo series— Here Comes Lolo and Hooray for Lolo— each feature four easy-to-read stories for the beginning reader. In this installment of our Remote Reading Series, Niki reads his story “A Gold Star and a Kiss for Lolo” from Here Comes Lolo. Both books are out in May, and pre-orders are available now.

The Remote Reading Series: Bridget Krone

Since many literary events have been cancelled recently, and since sharing art is always important, we here at Catalyst HQ have decided to put on a remote reading series. Over the next days/weeks, we’ll be releasing videos of our authors/editors. These are tough times, and we hope that our books (and all arts) are playing a part in helping you through them. See the other installments here.

Today’s reading comes from Bridget Krone (who has even dressed as one of her characters!). Bridget is the author of the middle-grade novel Small Mercies, a heartwarming book about family, love, and standing up for what’s right— even when it’s hard. Small Mercies has earned Bridget a starred review from Kirkus, and we couldn’t be prouder to be her publisher! Small Mercies is out now! Want to get a sneak peek? Check out this excerpt from the novel! And if you want to learn more about Bridget and her novel, be sure to read this Q&A with her.

The Remote Reading Series: JL Powers Reads from Under Water

Since many literary events have been cancelled recently, and since sharing art is always important, we here at Catalyst HQ have decided to put on a remote reading series. Over the next days/weeks, we’ll be releasing videos of our authors/editors. These are tough times, and we hope that our books (and all arts) are playing a part in helping you through them.

Our first video comes from Catalyst founder Jessica Powers, who introduces the series and reads from her YA novel Under Water, published by our friends Cinco Puntos Press. You can pick up Jessica’s novel at your favorite bookseller, but independent bookstores are having a tough time right now, so, if you can, please support your local one by purchasing through Indiebound, Bookshop, or their websites.

Stay tuned for more videos from more of our authors!

Book Tour: Max Annas

This month, author Max Annas (The Wall, The Farm) is heading South. Through a collaboration with Goethe-Institut, an organization promoting German cultural exchange abroad, Max will be appearing at various locations in South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Times and locations are still being finalized, so check back for updates!

 

 

Monday, February 17: Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC
Monday, February 17: Hub City Books, Spartanburg, SC
Wednesday, February 19: University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Thursday, February 20: Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Saturday, February 22: Goethe-Zentrum, Atlanta, GA

#ReadingAfrica Week 2019

It’s that time of year again. That time when our thoughts turn from promoting the great work  by African authors and books about Africa to, well, promoting the great work by African authors and books about Africa. But this time there’s a hashtag and a chance for you to join in the fun! That’s right, it’s almost time for Reading Africa Week!

If you’re unfamiliar with the campaign, here’s the scoop: for one week in December, we, along with a host of other indie publishers, readers, libraries, and literacy organizations celebrate the amazing literary work coming from Africa. That’s fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, comics, poetry— you name it, we’re celebrating it. We launched Reading Africa Week in 2017 to celebrate that diversity, and to spotlight some of the publishers who are doing such fantastic work getting these works to more readers.

During the week of December 1-7, let us know how you’re reading Africa. Is there a new book your falling in love with? An old favorite you know cover-to-cover? A remarkable journalist or essayist whose work you just can’t stop reading? Have a list of your favorite African comic artists? Let us know by using the hashtags #ReadingAfrica or #ReadingAfricaWeek on posts across social media. Last year, in addition to social media, we also saw a few blog posts and one video celebrating African literature. The sky is the limit, and we can’t wait to see what this year brings. This Book Riot article about last year’s event has lots of suggestions for ways you can participate.

Like last year, we have a logo that you are free to download. Many thanks to Karen Vermeulen for the design.