Our books are a great choice for book clubs and reading groups. We have readers’ guides available for several of our books, with more coming soon! If you’re looking for ideas for your next read, check out some of our picks (PDF), and get your next conversation started.
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”
This comes from our newsletter series, From the Editor’s Desk, where Catalyst founder/publisher, Jessica, gives you a peek behind the Catalyst curtain. Subscribe to our newsletter to get more looks inside Catalyst HQ, author Q&As, giveaways, and more!
I have to tell you the truth, I’m feeling kind of tired. But it’s a good tired! 2018 was a whirlwind year (following 2017, its own kind of whirlwind) and included many firsts. For this Editor‘s Desk column, I thought I’d tell you what some of those firsts were–all of them worthy of celebration. And hopefully I’ll find some time to do just that this month–celebrate all the firsts of 2018. Continue reading “From the Editor’s Desk: 2018 Reflections”
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”
Luke Molver, author/illustrator of Shaka Rising, was recently interviewed by Beautiful News South Africa about his work and bringing Shaka’s story to the page.
First of all, bookology is a delightful word to say. Go on. Say it. We’ll wait… Fun, right? Secondly, the good folks at the delightfully-named Bookology Magazine chatted with Catalyst founder Jessica Powers to talk about our children’s/young adult offerings.
[Jessica’s] goal is to bring to Western readers books that reveal the world from different perspectives—tilting, reversing or tweaking the standard Western understanding of what’s real, true, necessary, or beautiful. Her motivation to create this press is her belief that books can be the fire and fuel for change. One book in the hands of one child can change—and has changed—the world for many.
Some members from the Story Press Africa team, our collaborative imprint with Jive Media Africa, were at Comic Con Africa, and they had an amazing time! It was a pleasure to meet so many dedicated fans, fantastic publishers, and talented artists and to bring Shaka Rising to South African audiences (and now, it’s official; Shaka Rising is available through North America and South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana!). We’re sharing some of our thoughts from the event, and what we took away from it. Read on for reflections from Hilary Kromberg and Robert Inglis. And for a really great visual wrap-up of the event, be sure to check out this one-minute documentary from the talented folks at DocuMinute (which features some artwork from Shaka Rising!)
Continue reading “Who Can Beat a Superhero? Reflections from Comic Con Africa”
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”
This Q&A is an extended version of the one that appeared in our most recent newsletter. Want to read more interviews like this, plus stay up-to-date on everything going on at Catalyst Press? Be sure to subscribe!
Earlier this year, we released Shaka Rising: A Legend of the Warrior Prince by author/illustrator Luke W. Molver. This graphic novel was the first release in our African Graphic Novel Series and the first release under our Story Press Africa imprint. The book was praised by The Wall Street Journal, Kirkus, Booklist, and the Midwest Book Review. This nuanced look at the life of the legendary Zulu king is part family saga, part military epic, and part history lesson. It has been a pleasure to bring Shaka’s story to readers. Luke will be bringing this story to even more readers as the book makes its South African release this month. Luke will be celebrating that, along with his other accomplishments at Comic Con Africa in Johannesburg this month.
We chatted with Luke about his work, writing Shaka, and what’s next for him. Keep up with Luke at his website, on Instagram, and on Facebook. Continue reading “Q&A with Luke W. Molver”
