We’re dedicating this edition of The Spark to the newest Caine Prize winner, Idza Luhumyo. Idza’s story, “Five Years Next Sunday,” was named the winner of this year’s Caine Prize for African Writing. The award is given to “a short story by an African writer published in English […] The winner is awarded a cash prize of £10,000, and the other four shortlisted writers will receive £500 each.”
Announced this week: the winners of the 2022 Lambda Literary Awards, which celebrate LGBTQ+ literature; Ruth Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness takes home the Women’s Prize for Fiction; and The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan and translated from Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler wins the 2022 EBRD Literature Prize.
Please join Catalyst Press and our publishing partner, Short Story Day Africa, in congratulating Idza Luhumyo and Mbozi Haimbre. Idza was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for her story, “Five Years Next Sunday,” and Mbozi was shortlisted for a Nommo Award in the short story category for her story, “Shelter.” Both of these appeared in our recently-released collection, Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa, the newest Short Story Day Africa Anthology. Idza and Mbozi were also the winner and first runner-up, respectively, for the Short Story Day Africa Prize.
Hello everybody! We’re back for this week’s literary roundup
Not surprisingly, COVID-19 continues to affect the publishing industry. This week, Charlie’s Corner, a children’s bookstore in San Francisco closed, and Powell’s in Portland, Oregon closed its airport store. Both bookstores said they hoped to be return in some fashion but can’t predict the future. Barnes & Noble, however, is reopening stores. While overall, book sales have plummeted in 2020, booksellers in Italy, Romania, and France have reported a recent sales spike. According to Shelf Awareness, Black-owned bookstores are continuing to see record sales of key Black-authored titles. Our own amazing marketing manager, Ashawnta Jackson, wrote an piece a couple of weeks ago about the first Black-owned bookstore in the US, and the importance of these stores in Black communities.
In awards news:
The Theory of Flight
Two African writers, Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe, This Mournable Body) and Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia, The Shadow King), were longlisted for the Booker Prize. We’re pleased. We’re longtime fans of Tsitsi Dangarembga, plus she has blurbed a forthcoming book from Catalyst Press, The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Ndlovu. [Ed Note: This post was written before we heard about Tsitsi’s arrest in Zimbabwe earlier today. Tsitsi was arrested along with several others at a protest both against government corruption and calling for the release investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono. We stand with Tsitsi and all fighting for justice and free expression]
The 2020 Caine Prize winner was also announced, with Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okojie winning with her short story “Grace Jones,” about a Grace Jones impersonator with a dark secret. Visit the Caine Prize site to read Irenosen’s story, and those of the other shortlisted authors. It’s a great story to end the week.
Small Mercies
In Catalyst News, Bridget Krone, who wrote Small Mercies, was interviewed by The Witness in South Africa. And SarahBelle Selig, our Office Manager based in Cape Town, interviewed our partner-in-crime at our South African distributor LAPA Uitgewers, Izak de Vries. Izak is a big friend and promoter of Catalyst’s titles in South Africa and we’re glad we were able to highlight him in this short video interview as part of our ongoing interview series, Conversations With…
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
There’s an article over at The New Yorker about a short film. In the documentary, a bookseller talks and demonstrates the craft of repairing a damaged book
Brightly has book recommendations for this graduation season, whether you’re the sentimental type or want to advise them on finances, this list has something for everyone.
A few weeks ago, Joy Harjo’s second term as U.S. Poet Laureate. Now,Book Riot explains the role of the Poet Laureate and the importance of the position.
Forbes has an article about Carry A Book, a social media app that connects you to fellow readers to discuss what you’ve read or favorite books.
If you’re going through this quarantine alone, why not embrace the silence? The Guardian has a list of 10 books all about silence, from protagonists looking to finding or characters being silent themselves.
Brittle Paper has the shortlist for The 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, with photos and bios of the authors.
While literature festivals around the world are being canceled, the Afrolit Sans Frontieres Festival, founded by South African author Zukiswa Wanner was made as a virtual response to the pandemic. Read more about it on The New York Times.
