We’ve published a lot of young creators here at Catalyst Press, but none as young as Kendra Powers, my awesome fourteen-year-old niece whose photo book, Bait the Toad, comes out this month. Featuring photos of Kendra’s pet toad Bait, whose sassy photo shoots became an overnight TikTok sensation, Bait the Toad is a side-splitting, quicky gift book that would make a great holiday gift for animal lovers of any age. I sat down with Kendra to chat about Bait, her new book, and her impressive crafting skills.
Dis net vel, my pel!
Bait the Toad
It’s Just Skin, Silly!
Happy #WorldBeeDay!
Bees are a vital part of life on Earth. The UN launched World Bee Day in 2018 to show us just how vital. Without pollinators like bees, “would equal a world without food diversity – no blueberries, coffee, chocolate, cucumbers and so much more.”
We’re celebrating #WorldBeeDay by pointing you toward some of our books that highlight just how important bees are. And we’ll share some organizations that are doing the very important work of keeping our ecosystems buzzing along.
Continue reading “Happy #WorldBeeDay!”
Love the Great Outdoors? Try These #ReadingAfrica Nature Reads!
#ReadingAfrica means opening up your reading to include a wide array of voices, thought, and genre. And it can also mean learning more about the plants and animals that make the continent so special. When we connect to the stories of the land, it helps us understand exactly what we’re protecting, and why it’s so vital we do.
We asked one of our favorite conservationists, David Muirhead, author of Cat Among the Pigeons, the first release from our science-themed Powers Squared imprint, to share some of his favorite science and nature books for #ReadingAfrica Week. As David explains, “These are books that have always stood out from the herd.”
Continue reading “Love the Great Outdoors? Try These #ReadingAfrica Nature Reads!”
Join us for #ReadingAfrica 2020!
Three years ago, we had an idea. What if we got readers, publishers, librarians, authors, and everyone who loves books together to celebrate African literature? That was the start of our Reading Africa Week celebration, and this year we’re excited to hold it for the fourth time. Each year during the first full week of December— this year December 6-12— we ask book lovers of all kinds to use the hashtag #ReadingAfrica on posts that highlight African literature. Whether it’s a new release or an old favorite, poetry or comics, non-fiction or a thriller, make sure to use #ReadingAfrica across social media to let us know what you’re reading.
Part of why we’re so excited about Reading Africa Week is that it shows the diversity of writing from the continent. As our colleague at Cassava Republic, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, noted “African writing is not a genre. It encapsulates different genres.” Readers of all kinds can find something to love when they read globally. Over the past three years, we’ve seen booklists, playlists, videos, amazing articles, and one year, when Africa Science Week overlapped, a fantastic assortment of academic papers and scientific studies. All this is to say, this is one of our favorite weeks. We get to talk (even more) about books and authors we love, and we get to learn more about the books and authors you love. For us, the magic of discovering a new author, a new poem, or a new book to share with a child you love never goes away.
We’re looking forward to sharing even more great books and authors with you this year.
Update: We’ve added a new piece to our #ReadingAfrica Week celebration! Join us for two virtual events. Both are free, but registration is required. More information here.
This Week in Literary News, Week of May 24
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
Libraries usually have summer reading programs once the summer vacation season starts. However, these are unusual times. Book Riot explores what libraries are doing to continue these programs safely.
May 25 was Africa Day! And Brittle Paper has a list of 13 African, under-the-radar books from the 1960s.
Over at Read It Forward, author Laura McHugh writes about why realistic heroines are the ones we empathize the most.
In Catalyst news, two of our books have great new reviews: Here Comes Lolo by Niki Daly, which Publishers Weekly calls “a winsome pick for early readers,” and Cat Among the Pigeons by David Muirhead, which the Midwest Book Review praises as “an inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and thoroughly entertaining read from first page to last.” Both books are out now!
Electric Lit has nine books exploring societal beauty standards and how they become obstacles to women.
Brightly has another list to diversify children’s reading lists. They recommend these 11 books that celebrate Muslim culture.
The National Book Festival will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year but will be moving to a virtual setting due to the pandemic. Read more about it at The Washington Post.
LitHub has an article about the podcast “Keen On” where speakers discuss how our reading of some books may change after the pandemic.
Teaching Guides & Activities for Catalyst Books
Book-lovers are pretty great, aren’t they? But to create the next generation of readers, we have to start early. That’s why we’re so proud of our books for kids, young adults, and our crossover titles. We hope that one of these stories is just the spark to create a reader for life.
During these challenging times, we know that a lot of parents are now finding themselves in the role of teacher, and you may be using one of our books to supplement your curriculum. If that’s the case, first of all, thank you, and please let us know how you’re using our books. We’d love to hear from you!
If you’re interested in incorporating African history and stories into your child’s reading, we’re pleased to offer the following resources/activities. Please check back as we add new resources and roll out a dedicated page where you can access these, and future activities. We realize that education as we’ve known it has changed quite a bit in the last few weeks, and we not only want to be responsive to that, we want to provide as many resources as possible to guide us, not just through this moment, but in the future. Continue reading “Teaching Guides & Activities for Catalyst Books”
An Update from Catalyst Publisher/Founder Jessica Powers
Dear friends of Catalyst Press,
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)