Fall is in the air here (translation: I’m already cold). As the calendar pages start falling away on 2021, we thought it’d be a good time to give you all a little sneak peek at our upcoming titles— many of which are available for pre-order.
We’re excited to add more books from one of our favorite children’s authors, Niki Daly, our very first young adult book in translation, and a new addition to our growing list of graphic novels. In addition to those, we think there’s something for just about every kind of reader in our 2022 catalog. Continue reading “What’s New in 2022”
Huge congratulations to Caroline Kurtz! Her memoir A Road Called Down on Both Sides: Growing up in Ethiopia and America was recently awarded the Best First Book Award by the Presbyterian Writers Guild! The award honors the best debut by a Presbyterian author written during 2018-2019. Caroline’s thoughtful memoir of her life as the child of missionaries explores faith, family, and what it means to find home when you’ve grown up between cultures and continents. We couldn’t be prouder.
Caroline isn’t the only Kurtz sister in the winner’s circle right now. This year, the Writers Guild has also awarded Jane Kurtz the 2020 Distinguished Writer Award in honor of her career as a writer and literary advocate. Jane has published over 35 children’s books, and with Caroline, founded Ready Set Go Books, a publishing company that produces books for young readers in English and three Ethiopian languages.
As the award ceremony, like many other events, has been postponed, the Kurtz sisters have recorded their acceptance speech, which you can see below. Congratulations to both Caroline and Jane!
After losing South African treasure Elsa Joubert last week, we said goodbye to two more literary legends, including the father of Chicano literature Rudolfo Anaya, and Charles Webb, the man who gave us The Graduate.
Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams became the first Black author to win Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, and Girl, Woman, Other author Bernadine Evaristo also scored an award. Here’s what Carty-Williams had to say about her win.
On that note, The New York Times published a collection of interviews with Black authors, agents, editors and booksellers on what it means to Black in publishing. A collaborative research report on the industry, titled “Rethinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing,” (PDF) was also released this week, featuring a foreword by Evaristo.
John Bolton’s hotly debated memoir sold over 780,000 copies in its first week, and another Trump book is on the way: a New York court gave Simon & Schuster the green light to publish President Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump’s tell-all book, set to release this month.
A previously unpublished, unfinished story from Little Women author Louisa May Alcott was released this week, and it looks like we may not have to wait much longer for the next Game of Thrones book. More good news: Lucasfilm just announced a huge publishing deal to produce a series of novels, storybooks, comics and more, based on the wildly popular Star Wars spin-off, The Mandalorian.
We have two new additions to our “Conversations with…” YouTube series, a series of conversations with Catalyst authors, friends, and partners. This week, our publisher Jessica Powers is in conversation with A Road Called Down on Both Sides author Caroline Kurtz and Bunmi Emenanjo, founder of Atlas Book Club. And ICYMI: check out my conversation with Small Mercies author Bridget Krone last week.
Finally, Washington Post with the headline we can all agree on. [Ed. Note: And, though she’s too modest to share, for a follow-up to this, check out SarahBelle’s article at World Literature Today on how one bookstore is responding to these new, browser-less times]
This is a time for listening, yes, but it is also a time for doing. But remember, what doing looks like for you could look vastly different from someone else. Movements are made of lots of individual roles, and you, like many of us, will need to find your part to play. And that requires a deeper understanding of the world around you. We believe that voices and texts are powerful ways of gaining that, and have assembled a list of some books that we think can help us understand.
This list is, by no means, comprehensive. It contains both fiction and non-fiction, poetry and academic work, books for adults and young readers. Since so many of our authors are African, and part of our mission at Catalyst is to amplify those voices, you’ll also find several books by African authors, many of which were written to speak to times, conditions, and politics that, in many ways, mirror our own. There are books here that speak to the whys and hows of how we got to this moment in time, but there are also some that celebrate Black history and activism, or simply just Black lives— important things to remember and hold on to right now. We will be periodically adding to this list.
If you want to extend your reading into other action, we have also included a list of resources and organizations who are fighting against racism, against police brutality and state violence, and for Black lives. We’ve all been moved to speak, but now we have to be moved to action, and we include ourselves in that call. We’re going to continue doing the work that we need to do here at Catalyst to make sure that justice, empathy, and equity aren’t just our words, but our actions.
Our weekly round-up of literary news here at Catalyst and beyond, is brought to you by our intern Naomi Valenzuela. Naomi is from Phoenix, Arizona and El Paso, Texas, and is majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in English & American Literature at the University of Texas, El Paso, with plans of working in the publishing business after graduation
We start off with some helpful news for parents and kids:
Brittle Paper has two features this week for children. On Mondays, Michelle Obama will be doing live streams reading classic children’s books. They’ve also made a list of easily accessible and free children’s e-books.
The Washington Post has tips to parents from a parent on how to sneak in some time for your own reading in these days full of work and chores.
Now in Literary News:
Book Riot has put together a list of the best virtual reading series out there right now. These live streams range from the west coast to the east, check out these open mics along with featured readers.
For the bookworms with more time on their hands, The New York Times has advice from interior designers on how to organize and decorate with your books.
After an Alaskan school board pulled classics from their curriculum (I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, for example), many community members have been offering students money and free food to get them to read these important classics. Check it out on The Guardian.
The Dark Web Trilogy by Peter Church
Brittle Paper has a list of eight trilogies by African Writers to delve into. And while you’re at it, check out our Dark Web trilogy by Peter Church.
On Read It Forward, Frances Cha has an essay that shows how diversity in literature can encourage young writers to create without fear.
Our weekly round-up of literary news here at Catalyst and beyond, is brought to you by our intern Naomi Valenzuela. Naomi is from Phoenix, Arizona and El Paso, Texas, and is majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in English & American Literature at the University of Texas, El Paso, with plans of working in the publishing business after graduation
Down on Both Sides by Caroline Kurtz
This week in Catalyst News!:
We have teamed up with four publishers— City Lights, Cinco Puntos, Enchanted Lion, and Readers to Eaters— to promote a new and diverse selection of children’s books. From history to poems, take a look at these books here!
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Theory of Flight) has an essay on Times Select. Read about the author’s thoughts on how we can all learn something from feeling powerless.
In other literature news:
The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Cartoonist Peter Kupur created illustrations for Earth Day to talk about Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the book that begun to raise awareness about the environment. Check it out at The New York Times.
If you’re a history buff looking for something new to read, Electric Lit has got you covered with seven books about forgotten wars.
Lit Hub has an essay from Mai Tran, who writes about how writing becomes an outlet for those who are socially anxious.
Is there a book that you’ve been trying to get through for weeks? Read It Forward has an article on why you shouldn’t feel bad about quitting a book.
Finally, Book Riot has the finalists for the 25th Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist, which celebrates excellence, originality, and accessibility from women authors.
In just a few short weeks, it feels like the world as we have known it has collapsed. We’re all trying to keep in touch as best we can, and those of us who can work from home are doing so, but we know that a lot of people have lost or will lose their jobs; we know that people will have trouble paying rent or feeding their families. And meanwhile, all of us have to deal with the fear and uncertainty of an illness that can be deadly, and may affect us or our loved ones.
The economic shutdown of the USA has affected book publishers in myriad ways. Amazon is making shipping of books a low priority. Independent booksellers have changed the way they work with customers, and are working to ship online orders as well as provide curbside pickups. But booksellers and publishers alike are going to be dramatically affected by the quarantines and shelter-in-place orders, primarily through loss of sales, but also through loss of marketing opportunities to get the word out about our books through reviews and other outlets that are also not operating under optimal conditions (or at all.)
Catalyst Press is committed to weathering this storm but, as a new small press we are especially vulnerable to a tank in sales. This is true for all small presses, not least for us. For those of you who really want to support us during this time, here are a few ways:
If you’re in North America, you can order new and older books directly from our website or from independent bookstores at this link.
South Africa is in a severe lockdown right now, and deliveries of books aren’t happening. In the meantime, you can order ebooks at Amazon. We always want to support independent bookstores but in this particular case, please do buy ebooks on Amazon! But if you want to buy physical books and you can wait for them to be delivered, you can order copies from LAPA, our distributor in South Africa, and they will resume deliveries when they can.
We are also able to accept one-time or recurring tax-deductible donation through Fractured Atlas, a 501 (c) (3) arts organization that has offered us fiscal sponsorship. This is an option we’d love for you to consider anytime, of course!
Even if ordering books or offering donations is not possible for you at this time, we love hearing from our supporters on social media, this blog, or via email, so please feel free to drop us a kind note anytime. We’d love to hear about past books we published that you loved, future books you’re looking forward to, or suggestions for future books.
Thanks guys. Keep in touch and stay well!
Jessica, Publisher & Founder, Catalyst Press (with imprints Story Press Africa & Powers Squared)
2020 is just around the corner (which, is simply unbelievable. Wasn’t it just summer?!), so we wanted to give you a preview about some of the great books we’ve got planned for the new year. This post will cover, roughly, the first half of 2020 (with one book that’s set for release in late 2019), and part two, covering the rest of the year, is coming soon.
In January 2020, we’ll be releasing Cape Town: A Place Between by writer and scholar Henry Trotter, the first volume in our new Intimate Geographies Series. Henry, the author of Sugar Girls & Seamen: A Journey into the World of Dockside Prostitution in South Africa (Ohio University Press), will also be serving as the series editor going forward.
In more Catalyst news, 
In January 2020, we’ll be releasing