Tag: Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu | Page 2

The Spark: The “It’s May!” Edition

Hot from the Press

Two Catalyst author events we’ve been waiting for have almost arrived! On Sunday May 22 at 1pm EST, join Richard Conyngham and Tumi Mamabolo, the author and one of the illustrators behind All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa, for “Archives and Storytelling,” a virtual event hosted by Interference Archive. The pair will be discussing how archives can be an important tool for creative storytelling, and how they used them to bring the stories in All Rise to life. The event is free, but registration is required. Sign up here, and don’t forget to pre-order your copy of the book which hits shelves next week!

To learn more about the creation of All Rise, check out this Q&A with the author, just released this week.

Continue reading “The Spark: The “It’s May!” Edition”

The Spark: The Long Weekend Edition

Hot from the Press

Catch up on two great Catalyst author events:

Caroline Kurtz did a virtual reading with Annie Bloom’s Bookshop from her new book, Today is Tomorrow, a follow up to her award-winning memoir A Road Called Down on Both Sides: Growing up in Ethiopia and America. Today is Tomorrow, which reflects on the years Caroline and her husband spent working with war refugees in South Sudan and Kenya, is on sale April 19. Happy pub week, Caroline!

And on Friday, Johns Hopkins’ Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences hosted a great conversation with Windham-Campbell Prize winner Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu. We’re proud to be the North American publisher for Siphiwe’s The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, both available now!

And finally, the fourth book in Niki Daly’s beloved Lolo series, Fly High, Lolo, just received a starred review from School Library Journal! SLJ called the book “a beautiful addition to the series, and a worthy addition to library shelves.” Fly High, Lolo, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, is available for pre-order now. Continue reading “The Spark: The Long Weekend Edition”

Congratulations, Siphiwe!

Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author of The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, was among the eight winners of this year’s prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize. The award, which “calls attention to literary achievement and provides writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns,” is administered by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. Siphiwe is joined by two other African writers on this year’s recipient list, Emmanuel Iduma from Nigeria and fellow Zimbabwean Tsitsi Dangarembga, who said of Siphiwe’s win, “I am delighted to see that Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is a recipient of the Windham Campbell Award for Fiction this year. This is an extraordinary distinction, one that is particularly meaningful for Zimbabwean literature at a time when political repression and economic stagnation undermine artistic expression in the country.”

In the announcement on the organization’s website, Siphiwe is called “both a chronicler and a conjurer whose soaring imagination creates a Zimbabwean past made of anguish and hope, of glory and despair.” The prize, which comes with a $165,000 award, gives writers the time and the space they need to create without financial concerns, something that Siphiwe looks forward to. “I cannot even begin to fully articulate all the amazing things that this prize means for me at this stage in my career,” Siphiwe says. “There are still so many stories waiting to be told and now thanks to the Windham-Campbell Prizes at Yale, I will be able to tell them. I am both immensely honored and deeply humbled by this recognition.”

All of us at Catalyst Press send our hugest congratulations to this talented author, and we can’t wait to see what she creates next. Visit the Windham-Campbell website to see the full list of winners.

The Spark: Week of March 20

Hot from the Press

We’re so excited to have officially launched our GlobalComix page last week! GlobalComix is a platform for comics readers and creatives anywhere in the world to discover, read and publish comics and graphic novels online. You can check out our publisher page to read all of our graphic novels from your phone or computer, and be sure to give us a follow to be the first to access our upcoming releases!

Get out your calendars, because our authors have some amazing events coming up! This coming Tuesday March 29 at 6:30pm Pacific Time, Catalyst authors Richard Conyngham (All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa – A Graphic History) and Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The History of Man) will be appearing at PubWest Live, a virtual event hosted by PubWest and Massy Arts. The event also features Christopher Chávez, author of The Sound of Exclusion: NPR and the Latinx Public. Register here!

And on April 5 at 7pm Pacific Time, join author Caroline Kurtz for a livestreamed reading and discussion of her new book Today is Tomorrow with Annie Bloom’s Books–and get a signed copy if you pre-order from Annie Bloom’s!

The Spark: Events Edition

Our authors are busy these days, and it looks like they’re mostly busy with events— lots of events! So this edition of The Spark will put them all in one handy place, so that you can fill your month with literary goodness.

Wednesday, March 16 at 3:00pm South African Time: Joanne Hichens (Divine Justice) appears on the panel, “Beyond the Words in Shorts Stories,“ as part of the Time of the Writer Festival, a virtual festival sponsored by The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts. The panel will discuss how their work answers the question: what does being haunted and hauntings mean in our southern African world, in the past, the present and the future?

Tuesday, March 29, at 6:30pm PT: Authors Richard Conyngham (All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa) and Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The History of Man) will be appearing at PubWest Live, a virtual event hosted by PubWest and Massy Arts. The event also features Christopher Chávez, author of The Sound of Exclusion: NPR and the Latinx Public (University of Arizona Press). Register here

Tuesday, April 5, 7:00pm PT: Caroline Kurtz celebrates the release of her new memoir Today is Tomorrow with a virtual reading and discussion at Annie Bloom’s Books. And if you pre-order from Annie Bloom’s you can get a signed copy! More info and registration here

Friday, April 15, 12:00pm ET: Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu will be in conversation with Johns Hopkins University World Literature professor, Jeanne-Marie Jackson. Register here

Introducing The Spark

Welcome to The Spark, our weekly roundup of news from Catalyst and beyond. This is our first edition with our brand new fancy name. Think of The Spark as a quick burst of news, a little shorter than our monthly(ish) newsletter, but just as fun. A fun-sized version of the Catalyst news you know and love. If you’re not subscribed to the full-sized version, be sure to subscribe here!

Hot from the Press

Two great mentions for Catalyst Press authors this week! Nigerian author Wole Talabi named his top ten favorite stories of 2021, and two (!!) stories from Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa were listed (“Shelter” by Mbozi Haimbe, and “Five Years Next Sunday” by Idza Luhumyo). We are proud to be the North American publisher for Disruption, available in stores and online. And Consortium Library Express featured a sneak peak of Niki Daly’s newest Lolo book, Fly High, Lolo. Fly High, Lolo is available for pre-order now. For more info on the Lolo early reader series, check out the “From the Backlist” section below.

This Week in Literary News

We’ve changed our weekly literary news roundup just a bit for the new year. From now on, you’ll find tips on #ReadingAfrica all year round, great titles to check out from our backlist, and of course, other bookish news from across the internet. Think of this as a mini newsletter (for the regular-sized serving of our newsletter, subscribe here). Happy reading!

“These books may have hard topics but they essentially are a needed part of education. They might be brutal and hard to swallow, but they are the best examples of real-world problems and history.” Students give their thoughts on the book bans happening across the nation.

Today we celebrate the birthdays of both ✨Audre Lorde AND Toni Morrison✨ It should be a national holiday, right? pic.twitter.com/1HeuWVy566
— Feminist Press (@FeministPress) February 18, 2022

What a day! Both Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde were born on this day (February 18). Here are a few places to learn more about these two influential authors:

The Legacy of Audre Lorde at The Paris Review
Audre Lorde at the Poetry Foundation
The Genius of Toni Morrison’s Only Short Story at The New Yorker
13 Groundbreaking Toni Morrison Works to Read Right Now at Oprah Daily

This Week in Literary News

Public libraries are doing great, but literary magazines–not so much. Apple Books launched its new book club, and We Need Diverse Books started a grant for educators teaching diverse stories. The Rathbones Folio Prize and the Waterstone Children’s Book Prize announced their shortlists, and the National Book Foundation announced its inaugural titles for its new Science and Literature program. Ashley Bryan, beloved author of children’s books on Black lives including Beautiful Blackbird, died at age 98.

This Week in Literary News: Week of November 14

First up, some Catalyst news! Make sure to mark your calendars for three epic virtual events we’re hosting for our fifth annual #Reading Africa week: an African comics and graphic novels event on December 6^th, an African kid lit event on December 8^th, and an African women authors’ event on December 10^th. All events will be held at 12:00pm EST, or 7:00pm SAST. #ReadingAfrica week starts December 5^th and lasts all week long, so be sure to follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to join in on the festivities!

ICYMI, Brittle Paper and Radical Books Collective hosted their “Beyond Wakanda” event last week, a celebration of African speculative fiction. Catch up on this awesome panel between Catalyst’s The Theory of Flight author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu and Cosmogramma author Courttia Newland, led by Lizzy Attree. And lastly, Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa cover designer Megan Ross was named a finalist for the 2021 GBAS Book Cover Awards!

In industry news, Empire of Pain author Patrick Radden Keefe took home the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction this week, and the winners of the 2021 National Book Awards were announced. Learn more about this year’s fiction winner, Jason Mott, and his novel, Hell of a Book. A Harry Potter 20^th anniversary reunion is airing on New Year’s Day, The Girls author Emma Cline is starting an imprint, and finance celebrity Gary V. secured one million sales of his new book in one weekend—by leveraging NFTs. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is releasing a new book, and so is Kevin from “The Office.”

Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of November 14”

This Week in Literary News: Week of October 31

On November 6, The Theory of Flight author Siphiwe Ndlovu will be in conversation with Cosmogramma author Courttia Newland and moderator Sean Jacobs, editor and founder of Africa is a Country. Here’s the registration info.

The two team up again for Radical Books Collective’s “Beyond Wakanda! Celebrating New African Speculative Fiction” day on November 12 from 11am-2pm EST (5pm-8pm in SA)

African literature has been in the spotlight a lot lately. Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize; Tsitsi Dangarembga was awarded the 2021 German Peace Prize; Senegalese novelist Boubacar Boris Diop has been named the winner of the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature; fellow Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr has won the Prix Goncourt, becoming the “first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to be awarded France’s oldest and most prestigious literary prize.”; and South African novelist and playwright Damon Galgut has won the Booker Prize. Congrats to all! Continue reading “This Week in Literary News: Week of October 31”