Wednesday was International Translation Day, the perfect excuse to celebrate Catalyst Press’ amazing translators: Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds (translator of The Farm and The Wall by Max Annas), Elsa Silke (translator of Sacrificed by Chanette Paul), Martin Steyn (author and translator of Dark Traces), and Ivanka Hahnenberger (translator of our upcoming graphic novel Madame Livingstone). Thank you for your commitment to bringing new voices to global readers!
It’s International Translation Day, a global day of celebrating “the work of language professionals.” We’ve been excited to celebrate National Translation Month this month, and this is a perfect way to close out September. International Translation Month is a time to shine a light on the wonderful translators who have helped us and our authors bring global literature to even more readers. Continue reading “Celebrating International Translation Day”
For the next few weeks, we’ll be spotlighting our upcoming releases for the new year. You’ll learn a bit about our 2021 releases, their authors, and information about pre-ordering.
This month we’re now the publisher for not one, but two thrillers by award-winning author Max Annas. The Farm, which released earlier this month, is a taut thriller set in a rural South African farmhouse. When unknown and unseen shooters attack in the dark of night, a diverse group of people barricade themselves inside the house. No one knows who the target is, no one knows what the motive is, and no one knows who will survive the night.
The Farm, translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds, was the winner of the 2015 German Crime Prize. The Farm joins The Wall, another award-winning novel from Max, as part of our African Crime Reads Series. These place-based novels offer mysteries and thrills— from police procedurals, to techo-thrillers, to family dramas— all set in locations around the continent.
Both The Farm and The Wall are out now. You can purchase them here at our site, or at your favorite local bookstore.
The impact from the devastating fires across the Western United States has extended to bookstores and publishers, Publishers Weekly reports. “This is a very scary time to be a bookseller and a small business owner,” says Kit Steinaway, the programs manager at the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC). The article notes some ways that you can help, including by donating to BINC, an organization that provides aids to booksellers during fire season. If you’d like information about other organizations that can use your help, this article at The Cutoffers some suggestions.
The Farm by Max Annas
This month is National Translation Month, and we’re proud to publish the English-language translations of several fantastic books. National Translation Month falls right after Women in Translation Month, so if you’re looking to read globally, there have been so many great suggestions over the past two months. Over at CLMP, there’s been two round-ups of books from indie publishers, and we’re in both! Sacrificed by Chanette Paul (translated by Elsa Silke) has a spot on the Women in Translation list, while The Wall by Max Annas, translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds is on the National Translation Month list. And speaking of Max, his latest thriller, The Farm, also translated by Rachel, released earlier this week! Congratulations, Max!
The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Max gets double congratulations this week, as his German-language thriller, Morduntersuchungskommission was named the winner of the 2020 Cologne Crime Award. And in other award news, the Booker Prize has released its shortlist. Of the six nominated shortlisted books for the prestigious award, four are from debut authors, four are women-authored, and two are by African authors, including Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body. Aside from being fans of her work, Tsitsi is special here at Catalyst since she graciously provided a blurb for our forthcoming release The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu. Tsitsi called Siphiwe’s debut “A dazzling novel of delicate and astonishing magic.” The Theory of Flight is out in January. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News”
A huge congratulations to Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. Her novel, The Discomfort of Evening (translated by Michele Hutchison) was the winner of this year’s Booker Prize. It’s always exciting to see a work in translation win honors (especially during Women in Translation Month!). The role of the translator in bringing the shapes and nuances of an author’s words to another language can’t be understated. Over at the Los Angles Review of Books, there’s a great interview with Mustafa Çevikdoğan and Mehmet Erte, both writers and editors from Turkey. Their conversation touches on the publishing landscape in Istanbul, including the large number of translations available in the country: “Our market is saturated with translations, amounting to almost half of the books released. From Chinese to Norwegian to African languages, a wide range of world literature is translated into Turkish.” One of the titles that has recently been translated to Turkish is a familiar one for us at Catalyst— Dark Traces by Martin Steyn.
Also at Los Angles Review, a. great essay by Hope Wabuke on the frameworks of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, two genres that, in their own ways, “center Blackness, while engaging with the ability of science fiction and fantasy to speak about the oppression of marginalized individuals.” A fascinating look at the past, present, and future of Black speculative literature. Along those lines, there’s an interview at LitHub on one of our most speculative fiction authors, Octavia Butler. Aaron Robertson talks with illustrator James Ransome who illustrated a special edition of Butler’s 1979 novel Kindred.
Let’s move from speculative fiction to the other end of the scale: non-fiction. Emma Copley Eisenberg writes in Esquire about the process of fact-checking non-fiction books, including her own. From her piece: “When I set out to write my first book, I wanted to write a book that examined the very nature of facts and how we turn them into stories. To do this, I knew, I would have to get every fact that was verifiable correct. The more you want to ask the big, shifty questions, the more your foundation must be rock solid.” Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of August 23”
This week’s news is up a little later than usual, but filled with enough news to get you through your week ahead!
Jacana Media has issued its annual call for the Gerald Kraak Prize and Anthology, an anthology and prize on the topics of gender, human rights and sexuality, for writers and photographers across Africa. Submissions are open all year.
Speaking of Jacana, we’re pretty impressed with their “Don’t Shut Up” conversation, masterclass, and broadside series. If you haven’t checked these out, you should. You can catch up on old conversations at their Crowdcast website.
All this month we’re having a Summer Friday sale where you can save big (really big. 40% off big) on a themed selection of our titles. Last week it was out kids/YA books, and this week, we’re celebrating our women authors. Save 40% on some great books by using the code SUMMERFRIDAYS when you check out. This sale is only available when you order through our site.
Sacrificed
And speaking of women authors, this month is Women in Translation month, a great opportunity to read globally. Started in 2014 by book blogger Meytal Radzinski, this month-long celebration of world literature focuses on women authors who write in languages other than English. According to stats on Radzinski’s blog, “approximately 30% of new translations into English are of books by women writers.” Women in Translation Month encourages readers to seek out and promote these books. Use the hashtags #WomeninTranslation or #WitMonth to share your reads and to find book recommendations. CLMP also has a helpful list of titles to get you started, including our own Sacrificed by Chanette Paul. Want some more ways to broaden your reading horizons? Check out these Q&As from translators Elsa Silke, who translated Sacrificed, and Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds who translated The Walland The Farmby Max Annas (The Wall is out now, The Farm releases September 15).
Last month marked the release of Bitter Pill, the final book in Peter Church’s Dark Web Trilogy, a page-turning series that explores the dark side of our digital lives.
Peter recently chatted with Michael Sears of The Big Thrill magazine to talk about his latest book, his inspiration for the book, and how his writing process has been affected by the ongoing coronavirus lockdown in South Africa. All three books of the trilogy are out now, and all summer long, we’re offering a special price on the e-books when you buy from our site!
From the article:
BITTER PILL is the third book in Peter Church’s trilogy centered on Dark Video, a malevolent pornography organization that skulks on the dark web.
The protagonist, Robbie Cullen, is a student who becomes unwittingly caught in Dark Video’s tentacles. After a chance encounter with a girl who turns out to be a stripper, he’s shocked to discover that he stars in an online sex video. When he tries to resolve the issue with the stripper, he discovers her dead.
In parallel, we follow the exploits of Julian Lynch, one of Dark Video’s customers for victims of the Mickey Finn Club—barmen who spike girls’ drinks with a date rape drug. And pulling the strings of all this is Carlos Da Palma, the secretive man behind Dark Video. He trusts no one except Samuel Chester, his hitman.
BITTER PILL is a twisty book with memorable villains. Church talks more about it in this exclusive interview for The Big Thrill.
We lost civil rights hero and U.S. Representative John Lewis this week, who died on July 17 at the age of 80. You should go and read everything he’s ever written, but in the meantime, read this Brain Pickings feature and ten of his best quotes on getting into “good trouble.”
THE FARM
Here at Catalyst, we celebrated the South African release of Max Annas’ thriller The Farm (translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds) with a virtual book launch with Boekemakranka featuring Izak DeVries of LAPA Uitgewers, our South African distributor. The Farm is out now in South Africa, and comes to North American readers in September (you can pre-order it here).
Calling all His Dark Materials fans: Phillip Pullman just announced a new novella based on the bestselling series, to be released in October. And in comic news: the original 2003 Walking Dead comic book is being re-released in full color, and A-list action star Keanu Reeves is writing a comic book (and casually slipped that he’d like to play the lead character in a movie rendition – so that’s probably happening).
ICYMI: in early June, a bunch of big-name authors (including Atwood, Gladwell, Rowling, Rushdie, and Steinem) penned an open letter about the dangers of cancel culture in Harper’s Magazine. But then a counter letter was released in The Objective, calling out the authors of the Harper’s letter for writing from a place a privilege (among other grievances). Catch up on the drama here. NPR responded with typical Swiss neutrality vibes by getting authors from both letters on a podcast together.
COVID-19 has hit the book world hard: according to a survey from nonprofit Americans for the Arts, 253 literary organizations reported over $7.2 million total losses to date. But it’s not all bad: with bookstores and festivals shut down, big box retailers like Walmart and Costco have been helping readers get their fix, and three literary nonprofits teamed up with the Mellon Foundation this week to create a Literary Arts Emergency Fund, distributing $5,000 to $50,000 grants to literary organizations across the United States. And one book festival in the United Kingdom came up with an innovative way to bring joy to book lovers at a distance: a drive-in book fair. If Britain is a bit too far for a road trip, Book Riot has a handy list of some upcoming virtual book events. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of July 19”
This month we’re now the publisher for not one, but two thrillers by award-winning author Max Annas. 
