Tag: Barbara Boswell

This Week in Literary News

Here Comes Lolo by Niki Daly

In Catalyst news, Africa Access Review reviewed two Catalyst titles last week: Here Comes Lolo by Niki Daly, and Small Mercies by Bridget Krone. Give them a read! We also love seeing our Catalyst authors producing new work. On New Frame, Unmaking Grace author Barbara Boswell chats about being a black woman novelist, the joy of writing, and her new book, And Wrote My Story Anyway: Black South African Women’s Novels as Feminism. If you haven’t read Unmaking Grace yet, you can buy it here!

Some of literature’s leading ladies rocked the headlines this week! This year’s JCB Prize longlist was majority female (and remarkably diverse), with women taking six of ten titles. Huge congratulations to Zambian author and ReadSA nonprofit founder Zukiswa Wanner for being one of three people awarded the Goethe Medal this week, for her commitment to international cultural exchange. Meet the woman behind that Normal People adaptation we’re all obsessed with, and the amazing Baltimore teacher who publishes student novels written by her Black high school freshman students. In the UK, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, and more joined in on the Extinction Rebellion protests this week, speaking out against the right-wing think-tanks pushing climate change denial.

In the U.S., the race to acquire Big 5 house Simon & Schuster is ramping up, with Bertelsmann reportedly joining the fight. Bertelsmann is the owner of Penguin Random House, already the largest publishing house in the world created by a merger of Penguin and Random House back in 2013. HarperCollins is also interested in the acquisition.

I’m always impressed, and somewhat suspicious, when someone tells me they finished the entirety of Karl Ove Knausgaard‘s The Struggle (I certainly have not). Here’s an oddly convincing piece from Jade Wootton at Electric Literature comparing the novelist to everyone’s favorite love-to-hate social media mogul Kim Kardashian.

Check out this gorgeous illustrated version of Gertrude Stein’s Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas and read the story behind their romance. Washington Post critic and grandfather of two, Michael Dirda, writes on the best 1980’s and 90’s books for children (and their parents), and Sandra Schmuhl Long gives a different perspective on an old favorite, To Kill a Mockingbird. And speaking of Atticus Fitch, the Alabama town that inspired the classic just voted in its first Black mayor.

In celebrity news, Dev Patel stars in a new David Copperfield film, Channing Tatum spent lockdown writing a children’s book (and posted the most Channing Tatum announcement ever about it), and Trump books won’t stop selling – so publishers won’t stop pushing them. The world lost actor Chadwick Boseman last week to a several-year fight with colon cancer. After his celebrated role as T’Challa, King of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther, Boseman became a hero in his own right, teaching Black children to celebrate their blackness and calling for more Black heroes in mainstream film and literature, a mission we couldn’t agree with more.

Read this gorgeous, somber reflection on the crisis in Beirut told through a series of letters between Beirut and New York. Then, head to LitHub for repetition as a literary tool, the doomed life of a muse, and the Japanese poet and essayist Kamo no Chōmei who already nailed that quarantine essay we’re all trying to write… eight centuries ago.

South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi is making headlines again, but this time in the book world: his wife Rachel spoke out on Instagram against a reprint of an unauthorized biography on Siya, released by South African publisher Jonathan Ball last year. Now, Jonathan Ball is saying it has no intentions of taking the reprint off the shelves.

Young Blood by Sifiso Mzobe

It’s National Book Week next week here in South Africa, and there are a number of exciting virtual events – follow their Facebook page to stay tuned! This year’s virtual ComicCon Africa is also coming up, and illustrator Jenny Frison is making waves with her Wonder Woman official event posters. Catalyst founder Jessica and I attended last year’s South African Book Fair here in Johannesburg (where I was lucky enough to meet one of our brilliant new authors, Sifiso Mzobe, whose award-winning novel Young Blood will be making its North American debut with us next April!). Check out what the fair is doing this year to take advantage of the virtual space, including collaborations with book fairs in Kenya and Nigeria. And while you’re reading up on the pan-African book world, check out this piece on Africa’s thriving literary magazine industry.

In more representation news, learn about free little libraries and book subscription boxes that are helping Americans decolonize their bookshelves, and the new Marvel comics project bringing Native American voices to the foreground. Then read these fascinating – and hopeful – pieces on the history of Nigerian queer literature and the future of Indian queer literature.

And finally, coming in first for the weirdest news to grace my feed this week: have you heard of this inn in Tokyo that will simulate editorial deadlines for you so you can finally finish that novel you’ve been putting off?

This Week in Literary News: Week of August 23

Cover from the Turkish translation of Dark Traces

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 in Literary News: Week of August 16

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.

Publishers Weekly reports that even though many independent bookstores have closed permanently, some brave, entrepreneurial book-lovers have actually opened new bookstores during the pandemic! And they are succeeding! We love bookstores and are pleased to hear it. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of August 16”

This Week in Literary News, Week of June 14

In support of Black Lives Matter and Juneteenth, the hashtags #BlackPublishingPower and #BlackoutBestsellerList have been trending, encouraging people to buy books by Black authors and from Black-owned bookstores from June 14-June 20.

If you’re unsure which books to buy for your children or teens on the topic of anti-racism, Publishers Weekly released a list. The lengthy list encompasses both non-fiction and fiction titles, and spans picture books to novels. At Catalyst, we also published a smaller list, including adult books and organizations to support, should you wish.

The National Book Critics Circle’s board fell apart this past week over charges of internal racism. Almost 2/3 of the board members resigned, and the remaining board has committed itself to doing the hard work of changing its structure and approach to be specifically anti-racist.

In censorship news: This week, the highest-ranked leader in the land, our President, attempted to ban a book by John Bolton, the former national security adviser. The book purportedly offers an insider’s view on the President’s egregious behavior. Mr. Trump claims that the book reveals classified secrets and should not be released. Advocates for its release argue that if he successfully bans the book, it will undo decades of free speech precedent. Court hearings began June 19th.

In Catalyst Press news, we released Bitter Pill by Peter Church this week. Bitter Pill is the third installment in his Dark Web Trilogy, and continues our African Crime Reads series. Publishers Weekly has praised Bitter Pill, writing, “Church expertly juggles the multiple story lines all the way to the sordid, frantic maelstrom of the denouement.” You can read an excerpt from the novel at CrimeReads.

Last but not least, sales of audiobooks have been moving upward for the last several years and continue to rise. We have several of our books available as audiobooks, including Small Mercies by Bridget Krone, Crackerjack by Peter Church, The Wall by Max Annas and translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds, and in a couple of months, Unmaking Grace by Barbara Boswell.

This Week in Literary News, Week of May 31

This week has been hard. There’s really no other way to put it. We’ve watched as cities all over the country, all over the world, have stood against racism and police brutality. We’ve seen people stand together, defiantly, tearfully, bravely saying the names of those we’ve lost to the violence of white supremacy.

This week has also marked the start of some real and hard conversations— many of which were long overdue. The literary community certainly isn’t immune from inequality, and in this week’s literary news, you’ll find several articles looking at ways that the community is grappling with issues of race and inclusion. You’ll also find some lighter news, like great reviews, book releases, music, and more, because taking breaks to take care of ourselves (physically or mentally) and celebrate our wins is also an important part of this. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News, Week of May 31”

Literary News & Notes

We’re pleased to welcome Naomi Valenzuela to #TeamCatalyst! Naomi is from Phoenix, Arizona and El Paso, Texas, and joins us as our intern. She 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.

She’ll be writing a weekly round-up of literary news from Catalyst and beyond (plus writing a few other things for the blog in the future. Watch this space!). We couldn’t be happier to have her here. Welcome, Naomi! Continue reading “Literary News & Notes”

January New Releases

This has been a busy month for us! We’ve started the new year with three new releases (plus ended the last year with one, which is also included here). All of these are available at your favorite booksellers and right here at our site.

The Thousand Steps by Helen Brain

The first book in Helen’s Fiery Spiral series for Young Adult readers, The Thousand Steps is the story of 16-year-old Ebba who has lived her entire life in a bunker deep within Cape Town’s Table Mountain. When she is suddenly elevated from the bunker, she finds that everything she knew about her life, and the world “above,” was wrong. Now shouldering the immense responsibility of her new life, Ebba must fight to save her friends still trapped in the bunker and facing execution any day.

Dark Video by Peter Church

The next installment in Peter Church’s Dark Web Trilogy, Dark Video is set in the early days of internet video sharing. A group of wealthy people are willing to pay any price for unimaginable videos. Cape Town college student Alistair Morgan is lured deeper and deeper into this sinister underground world where reality blurs and morals.

 


Cape Town: A Place Between by Henry Trotter

The first in our Intimate Geographies Series — short books of around 100 pages— which aim to help readers go beyond the surface of fascinating places. Cape Town: A Place Between weaves the history of city’s intersecting histories and cultures with Henry’s own experiences as an American living, working, and building a life there for nearly twenty years. While not a traditional travel guide, Cape Town invites readers into the city with hopes of sparking first-hand exploration with its mix of travel narrative and literary non-fiction.

Unmaking Grace coverUnmaking Grace by Barbara Boswell
Released in December

Unmaking Grace is a story an intimate portrayal of the legacy of inter-generational violence set in Cape Town in the 1980s. In this gripping novel, we meet Grace whose life is forever altered by her father’s violence. In her efforts to break the cycle in her own life, she finds a measure of peace in the stability of her middle-class lifestyle—complete with loving husband and baby. But when a figure from her past returns, Grace realizes that breaking free will be more difficult than she imagined.

 

Q&A with Barbara Boswell

Huge congratulations to Barbara Boswell! Her novel Unmaking Grace is out now in the US! Released in South Africa under the title Grace, Barbara’s novel about one woman’s journey to break the cycle of intergenerational violence earned her the 2017 Debut Prize from the University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African writing. Here in the US, her novel has been praised by Kirkus Reviews as “A smart, compassionate portrayal of one woman’s quest to end the cycle of violence.”; author Yewande Omotoso (Bom Boy, The Woman Next Door) calls it “a deeply compelling and important story”; and Ms. Magazine included it in their list of must-reads for December. We couldn’t be prouder to publish this thoughtful and moving book.

You can order the book online from IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, here on our website, and, of course, you can pick up a copy at your favorite local bookstore! We chatted with Barbara recently about her writing, Unmaking Grace, and the writers who shaped her life and work. Continue reading “Q&A with Barbara Boswell”

What to Expect When You’re Expecting (to Read a Book from Catalyst Press)

2020 is just around the corner (which, is simply unbelievable. Wasn’t it just summer?!), so we wanted to give you a preview about some of the great books we’ve got planned for the new year. This post will cover, roughly, the first half of 2020 (with one book that’s set for release in late 2019), and part two, covering the rest of the year, is coming soon.

Many of these books are ready for pre-order right now, so if someone (you) were looking to add a few books to the to-be-read pile, someone (you) would be in luck. All right, onward! Continue reading “What to Expect When You’re Expecting (to Read a Book from Catalyst Press)”