Category: Memoir

Notes from the 2019 ALA Conference

I had a great time at ALA2019 in Washington D.C.

Booth 707

Catalyst Press shared booth space at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative booth with several other publishers who focus on international and translated literature. GLLI was founded by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds, who is also the talented translator of our  recent release The Wall by Max Annas. Business was booming at the GLLI booth, with a lot of interest in publications from Africa. I brought 60 Advance Review Copies, which were snatched up before noon on Saturday, the first full day. We trust that they got into the hands of librarians who care and who will promote African writers and books set in Africa. Continue reading “Notes from the 2019 ALA Conference”

Q&A with Caroline Kurtz

An excerpted version of this Q&A appeared in our newsletter. Each month, we include things like information about events, giveaways, sales, and fun extras like author Q&As. If you’d like be the first to know about what’s going on at Catalyst HQ, be sure to subscribe!

We’re getting ready for another big release at Catalyst, A Road Called Down on Both Sides: Growing up in Ethiopia and America by Caroline Kurtz (out July 15). It’s big for a few reasons: not only is this our first non-fiction release, but because Caroline is US-based, we’re able to help her plan a few events in support of the book. What this means for you book-lovers out there, is that you may get a chance to see Caroline in person as she talks about her memoir detailing her life growing up in rural Ethiopia in the 1950s. She’ll be holding a book launch at Annie Bloom’s in Portland on July 15.

As the daughter of Presbyterian Church missionaries, Caroline and her family packed up their lives in Oregon, and headed to Maji, Ethiopia. It was during her time there that she discovered what it was like to live between cultures. She came of age in a country that felt as much like home as her native country, and yet, she was outside of it. When she returned to the US, she again felt like an outsider. In this thoughtful memoir, Caroline explores what it’s like to search for home when that means so many (often conflicting) things, how her parents’ faith wasn’t necessarily her own, and how she found home by building it from all of the pieces of her traveller’s life. Now back in Oregon, Caroline is the co-founder of Ready Set Go Books along with her sister Jane, which publishes books for young Ethiopian readers, and she runs a non-profit that brings solar power and economic development options to women in Maji.

We chatted with Caroline about her book, her childhood, and why she switched from writing about dragons to writing about her life. You can also keep up with Caroline’s development work at her website, and be sure to check out her pictures of her life in Maji and beyond. Continue reading “Q&A with Caroline Kurtz”

#ReadingAfrica Week

Join us for Reading Africa Week December 2-8!

Last year, we launched our first-ever Reading Africa Week. We wanted to bring attention to all of the writers who are doing all kinds of diverse and genre-spanning work from every corner of Africa. 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. So if you want to a) highlight the diversity of African writers and b) show off how awesome the indie world is in doing just that, you start a campaign called Reading Africa—at least that’s what we did.

We reached out to a few presses and asked them to use the hashtag #ReadingAfrica on their social media posts to spotlight new books, old favorites, upcoming releases, and gems from their catalogs to show people that in the words of Cassava Republic founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, “African writing is not a genre. It encapsulates different genres.” This year, we’re planning an even bigger event, and we’ve reached out to more publishers, literary orgs, and bloggers. Continue reading “#ReadingAfrica Week”

Coming Attractions

We’ve had a good year so far. Since January, we’ve released four books making our current catalog six books deep. We’re really proud of the work we’ve been able to do since we’ve launched, and we’re excited about what the future holds.

Let’s talk about the future.

We can’t wait for you to read our next releases. There are kid’s books, thrillers, sci-fi, graphic novels, memoirs, fiction, non-fiction, you name it. We thought we’d share some of the great Catalyst titles coming to bookstores in the next year. Some are available for pre-order right now, if that’s your thing (we hope it’s your thing). And if you’re looking for any of our current titles, they are for sale right here on this very site, if that’s your thing (we hope that’s your thing, too). You can keep up with us as we share more news about these releases by signing up for our newsletter. Continue reading “Coming Attractions”