This Week in Literary News, Week of April 5

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

The Guardian has a continuously updating list for bookworms of all ages to enjoy diverse activities from home, from author live streams to online book lending.

As mentioned last week, our authors and editors are going digital, too, with a remote reading series. This week we have David Muirhead reading from one of our recent releases Cat Among the Pigeons. Check out the video here.

There’s a new children’s book, made by a collaborative effort of more than 50 organizations, that’s aiming to help children understand the current pandemic. Read more about it at the World Health Organization.

The editors at Brightly have compiled lists of books and activities for children of all ages, from babies to teenagers, to keep them learning and engaged.

Publishers Weekly also has a list of digital resources by authors and publishers for children to keep their minds active, which includes our own resources— three coloring pages and author read-alouds from Niki Daly and Bridget Krone.

Electric Lit has another reading list for us, this week seven books with surreal stories for these surreal times.

As many people look toward books with diversity, Book Riot has an article examining whether the high popularity of white male authors among readers still prevails.

Due to the pandemic, celebrations for National Poetry Month, such as workshops, open mics, and readings, have taken the technological route. The New York Times gives the many different online events going on this month.

An article on LitHub explores how current events will affect the literature to come, and when it will become the appropriate time for these novels.

The Remote Reading Series: Niki Daly

Since many literary events have been cancelled recently, and since sharing art is always important, we here at Catalyst HQ have decided to put on a remote reading series. Over the next days/weeks, we’ll be releasing videos of our authors/editors. These are tough times, and we hope that our books (and all arts) are playing a part in helping you through them. See the other installments here.

Next up: Niki Daly! Niki is the award-winning author/illustrator of several books for children. We are so excited to be able to bring his Lolo series to US readers. The Lolo series— Here Comes Lolo and Hooray for Lolo— each feature four easy-to-read stories for the beginning reader. In this installment of our Remote Reading Series, Niki reads his story “A Gold Star and a Kiss for Lolo” from Here Comes Lolo. Both books are out in May, and pre-orders are available now.

This Week in Literary News: Week of March 29

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

The New York Times has an article on the different women authors running for the Booker International Prize, an award for literature translated into English.

There is a library in Abidjan centered on women’s writing from Africa and Brittle Paper has an interview with Edwige-Renee Dro, the woman who started this project.

The Internet Archive gave access to millions of digital works with its “National Emergency Library” due to the pandemic. An article on NPR informs that many books are being shared here without authors’ permission.

Also on NPR, read about how The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus has skyrocketed in sales in Europe and what literature can show us about situations like ours.

Electric Lit has a list of free or cheap resources for writers trying to get published for the first time and don’t know where to start.

Read It Forward has a list that shares eight books about loneliness and solitude in these times of isolation.

On The Guardian, learn about the charities which celebrities are taking a part in by live-streaming themselves reading children’s stories.

Finally, in Catalyst Press news, our authors are also participating with our remote reading series! In this series, we’ll have videos from our authors/editors sharing from some of their books. Find them here at our site, or on our YouTube channel.

The Remote Reading Series: Bridget Krone

Since many literary events have been cancelled recently, and since sharing art is always important, we here at Catalyst HQ have decided to put on a remote reading series. Over the next days/weeks, we’ll be releasing videos of our authors/editors. These are tough times, and we hope that our books (and all arts) are playing a part in helping you through them. See the other installments here.

Today’s reading comes from Bridget Krone (who has even dressed as one of her characters!). Bridget is the author of the middle-grade novel Small Mercies, a heartwarming book about family, love, and standing up for what’s right— even when it’s hard. Small Mercies has earned Bridget a starred review from Kirkus, and we couldn’t be prouder to be her publisher! Small Mercies is out now! Want to get a sneak peek? Check out this excerpt from the novel! And if you want to learn more about Bridget and her novel, be sure to read this Q&A with her.

The Remote Reading Series: JL Powers Reads from Under Water

Since many literary events have been cancelled recently, and since sharing art is always important, we here at Catalyst HQ have decided to put on a remote reading series. Over the next days/weeks, we’ll be releasing videos of our authors/editors. These are tough times, and we hope that our books (and all arts) are playing a part in helping you through them.

Our first video comes from Catalyst founder Jessica Powers, who introduces the series and reads from her YA novel Under Water, published by our friends Cinco Puntos Press. You can pick up Jessica’s novel at your favorite bookseller, but independent bookstores are having a tough time right now, so, if you can, please support your local one by purchasing through Indiebound, Bookshop, or their websites.

Stay tuned for more videos from more of our authors!