Category: Readings | CatalystPress

This Week in Literary News: Week of April 4

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”

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”

This Week in Literary News, Week of April 5

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

The Guardian has a continuously updating list for bookworms of all ages to enjoy diverse activities from home, from author live streams to online book lending.

As mentioned last week, our authors and editors are going digital, too, with a remote reading series. This week we have David Muirhead reading from one of our recent releases Cat Among the Pigeons. Check out the video here.

There’s a new children’s book, made by a collaborative effort of more than 50 organizations, that’s aiming to help children understand the current pandemic. Read more about it at the World Health Organization.

The editors at Brightly have compiled lists of books and activities for children of all ages, from babies to teenagers, to keep them learning and engaged.

Publishers Weekly also has a list of digital resources by authors and publishers for children to keep their minds active, which includes our own resources— three coloring pages and author read-alouds from Niki Daly and Bridget Krone.

Electric Lit has another reading list for us, this week seven books with surreal stories for these surreal times.

As many people look toward books with diversity, Book Riot has an article examining whether the high popularity of white male authors among readers still prevails.

Due to the pandemic, celebrations for National Poetry Month, such as workshops, open mics, and readings, have taken the technological route. The New York Times gives the many different online events going on this month.

An article on LitHub explores how current events will affect the literature to come, and when it will become the appropriate time for these novels.

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

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

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!

Celebrating a Year of Catalyst Press

A sampling of the Catalyst catalog (plus Jessica’s own YA novels)

Around 50 people attended Catalyst’s first anniversary party at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, California, a few miles away from Catalyst’s Livermore headquarters. Three musicians from Cheza Nami came to make music, representing Africa from the west coast to the east coast. We sang and danced, drank wine and ate cheese and cake, and talked books. I spoke briefly for about 15 minutes, talking about why I started Catalyst and fielding questions from the audience. The most embarrassing, asked by my 8-year-old son, was the following: Which book is your favorite? Since one of my authors, Caroline Kurtz, was in the audience, I didn’t feel like I could really answer that! Instead, I talked about two books that I have published which I feel are really important books to be out in the world: The Lion’s Binding Oath and Other Stories by Ahmed Ismail Yusuf and Shaka Rising: Legend of the Warrior Prince. Continue reading “Celebrating a Year of Catalyst Press”

Notes from NCTE

NCTE was held in St. Louis this year. The view wasn’t so bad.

November was a busy month here at Catalyst/Story Press Africa HQ. Our authors were shining at other blogs and getting stellar reviews for their great work. Meanwhile, our publisher, editor, and general get-things-done-er, Jessica has been pretty busy, too. She’s been donning her cloak (she switched the cape out for it) at readings and conferences across the country in promotion for her new book, Broken Circle (Akashic Books), with (of course) a healthy dose of Catalyst thrown in.

The sibling duo at this year’s NCTE conference.

Most recently, Jessica and her co-author (her brother Matt) were at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) conference and the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) in St. Louis. Jessica presented on books and social justice at NCTE, and the duo were also being awesome on a panel at ALAN. And two of our books, We Kiss Them With Rain and Shaka Rising were presented in front of nearly 600 educators at ALAN.

And you know what? You know why we do this thing we do? Why we play with words, arranging and rearranging them, turning them over, just to make sure that for a minute, for a page, for a paragraph, for a sentence someone gets to find themselves in book? I could tell you, but I think Matt said it way better than I could on the panel.

In recounting his struggles with reading as a child and how much teachers, storytellers, and people who love literature can make a difference in helping a kid see themselves in words, Matt (beautifully) said:

“In your classrooms, you are a family. You can help give kids who need it an identity, a story of themselves, that helps them make it.”

That’s why we do it. Every reader was that kid once, and maybe still is. Each of our books, from the darkest crime novel to an educational graphic novel, is about reaching a reader.

One thing I’ve always loved is hearing one of our authors, Martin Steyn (Dark Traces) talk about what got him into writing. It was reading Stephen King and losing himself in that world that made want to create that feeling for someone else. It’s unbearably cool that we get to do that here, that we get to share stories and let storytellers do their thing.