Catalyst South Africa: Q&A with SarahBelle Selig & Izak de Vries

While our authors make us special, without SarahBelle Selig and Izak de Vries as part of our team, Catalyst Press would be missing a huge part of its heart and soul. While our U.S. team members keep things humming a world away, these two have made us a truly international company. Whether through their connections with South Africa’s literary community, or with the kind of personal touch that only comes from a face-to-face meeting, they have helped build Catalyst South Africa into, what we hope, is a part of the local reading scene. We couldn’t do any of this without them. Ashawnta Jackson, a U.S.-based Catalyst team member, chatted to the pair about their work.

SarahBelle Selig and Izak de Vries

SarahBelle, can you tell us a bit about your role at Catalyst? What is the South African branch up to?

Specifically in South Africa, I’ve got a bit of a liaison role, which means I’m working face to face with our local authors, our South African distributor, and the many great booksellers and educators we’re connected with here. Izak and I also tag team our local publicity: everything from getting reviews for our authors in South African media, to getting them on panels at festivals.

We’re having so much fun at Catalyst South Africa these days! We’ve ramped up our events, from book launches and comics workshops, to author readings at local school libraries and even a beach cleanup. We hosted a booth at the inaugural Comic Con Cape Town to show off our amazing line up of African graphic novels and to connect with readers. We’re busy prepping the release of our first ever Afrikaans book for kids, and we’re actively building out our relationships with local nonprofits, bookstores, and schools. The Catalyst office is definitely the most active here that it’s ever been, I’d say.

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Author Q&A: Pearl of the Sea, Part 2

And we’re back! We rejoin the Pearl of Sea team in part two of our Q&A. Missed part one? Check it out here to get all caught up. We’ll wait….

Now that that’s all set, let’s jump back in to the conversation with the writers and illustrators of our newest graphic novel, Pearl of the Sea. Pearl joins a host of new and forthcoming releases as part of Panel & Page, our series of graphic novels for readers of all ages. You’ll be hearing a lot more about other books in the series in the coming months.

In part two of our conversation, Anthony, Raffaella, and Willem discuss the process of bringing words and images together, their love of comics books, and how their new book shows “the importance of opening up and not being scared of showing our vulnerabilities.”

Order Pearl of the Sea here

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Author Q&A: Pearl of the Sea, Part 1

At the end of January, we finally get to share Pearl of the Sea with the world—an absolutely stunning middle-grade graphic novel about a young South African girl who meets a sea monster while abalone poaching. Everyone at Catalyst has loved working with Pearl of the Sea’s incredible creative team—Anthony Silverston, Raffaella Delle Donne, and Willem Samuel of Cape Town’s renowned Triggerfish Animation Studio—to bring this book to global readers, and it’s been such a treat to receive such amazing reviews in the months leading up to its release. If you haven’t already, make sure to pre-order your copy right now, or check out the book in stores January 31st (or March 1st for readers in South Africa).

Today, I have the immense privilege of introducing you to Anthony, Raffaella and Willem as we chat about the making of this remarkable graphic novel. Let’s dive in!

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The Spark: The “It’s 2023!” Edition

Hot from the Press

Happy new year, Catalyst family! After a wonderful holiday season, we are rested and ready for a big year here at the press—with eight (!!) titles in store for you all in 2023. First up are our two January arrivals, Eye Brother Horn and Pearl of the Sea, which you’ll be hearing lots about on our socials leading up to their simultaneous releases on Tuesday, January 31st. We can’t wait to share these amazing books with you.

Until then, here’s a bit of Catalyst news for you to kick off the year! Our two Panel & Page releases for 2023—Pearl of the Sea and KARIBA—were included on this epic line-up of 2023 African creative projects to look out for from Squid Mag, and our two January releases were also included on this January roundup from the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses. Ameera Patel’s Outside the Lines is the African Book Club’s January book club pick and you can register here for their virtual discussion on January 22nd, which Ameera will be attending to answer reader questions. And finally, check out Pearl of the Sea co-author Raffaella Delle Donne in conversation with Ayo Oyeku on Muna Kalati!

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Introducing Panel & Page

We love the written word here. I mean, you don’t publish as many books as we have, over as many years, without loving words. But from the very start, we’ve also loved images. Whether they are the whimsical black and white drawings found in books by Niki Daly or Bridget Krone, or the explosion of color in our first graphic novel release, Shaka Rising by Luke Molver, words and images together have also been a vital part of the stories we want to share. With Shaka Rising and its sequel King Shaka, we introduced the world to the African Graphic Novel Series, a collaboration with Jive Media Africa through our joint imprint Story Press Africa. 

The Series gave us a way to tell rich, nuanced African histories through the pens and paintbrushes of African creators. We’re so proud of that work. “Wait,” you’re thinking. “Are you not doing graphic novels anymore?” No, nothing like that! The African Graphic Novel Series isn’t going anywhere. We hope that in the future we’ll be able to present more of those stories under that umbrella.

“So what’s this post all about, then?” is probably what you’re asking. Great question! This post is to introduce a sort-of sibling to the African Graphic Novel Series. Say hello to Panel & Page!

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The Spark: The “We ❤️ Libraries” Edition

It’s a fairly quiet week. This is partly because here in the US we’re in the last throes of summer, when the pace slows down just a bit, and everyone soaks up the last bit of summer fun they can. The other part is that I was on a very long vacation, and leaving the vacation world and coming back to the book world has been, let’s say, not the easiest transition. So this is a light load, but still full of exciting news.

Hot from the Press

Another great review for All Rise! This time, from one of our favorite places— the library! Kate Brittian, the Teen Librarian at the Wilson County Public Library in North Carolina, reviewed All Rise as part of the library’s weekly Teen Book Review.

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Upcoming Events

Join us for these great events in May: Author Richard Conyngham and artist Tumi Mamabolo at Interference Archive and Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu at the Contemporary African Voices Series.

Plus! You could win copies of both of Siphiwe’s books.

Author Richard Conyngham explored South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal’s basement archive, and through that research, was able to construct narratives of six cases of stories of resistance and rebellion from the period loosely known as the “Union years”—between South Africa’s unification in 1910 and the beginning of apartheid in 1948. These are stories of passive resisters, strikers, rebels, and revolutionaries fought back in the streets and in the courts.

The result of that work was the illustrated history, All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa, which was created with a team of South African artists. Join Richard and artist Tumi Mamabolo on Sunday, May 22 at 1:00 pm ET to explore the ways artists and creative writers can make use of archival materials, to discuss how archives and primary sources can be an effective avenue for creative work, and how the artists and writers filled archival gaps through creative decision-making to construct the stories we read in All Rise. Hosted by Interference Archive.

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