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 August 9

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 Wall and The Farm by Max Annas (The Wall is out now, The Farm releases September 15).

And let’s keep talking about women, because honestly, why not? The Smithsonian celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave many women in the US the right to vote, by highlighting 19 suffrage stories that history has often overlooked. As they write on the project’s website, “For many women, especially women of color, the fight didn’t end when the 19th Amendment went into effect on August 26, 1920.” Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of August 9”

This Week in Literary News

First things first: exciting news for our Catalyst readers! Every Friday of August, we’ll be hosting a sale on our website featuring titles of a certain theme. Today’s sale – 40% off both the physical and e-books of all of our Children’s and YA titles when you use the code SUMMERFRIDAYS at checkout! Tune in every Friday to find out the theme of next week’s sale. Next Friday (drum roll please!), our literary ladies take the stage with a sale on all female-authored Catalyst titles!

“It” is official! Stephen King has a new novel coming out next March. Matthew McConaughey is adding “author” to his résumé, and Lebron James is getting in the (writing) game with a new children’s book. Team Edward? You’re going to love this: Stephanie Meyer, the YA goddess who gave us Twilight, just gave us one more.  Midnight Sun hit shelves this week and the series’ cult following is going berserk. Ryan Reynolds is making a movie based an essay in the popular New Yorker column, “Shouts & Murmurs,” and Dan Sheehan’s announcement of it makes the news even better.

Still behind on reading the 2020 Booker longlist? Let Electric Lit decide your next pick for you, based on your quarantine habits. And because I’m a sucker for a good book quiz, head over to Book Riot to find out what pop culture librarian you are. Continue reading “This Week in Literary News”