Tag: Story Press Africa

Shaka Rising Named an Honor Book by the Children’s Africana Book Awards

Shaka Rising: A Legend of the Warrior Prince was named an Honor Book for Older Readers by the Children’s Africana Book Awards! The awards, presented by Africa Access, a non-profit that celebrates and promotes African literature for young readers. The Children’s Africana Book Awards are an annual award honoring “authors and illustrators of the best children’s and young adult books on Africa published or republished in the U.S.” We couldn’t be more excited that Shaka Rising was among the honorees!

Shaka Rising is the first in our African Graphic Novel Series, and the first release from our collaborative imprint, Story Press Africa. You can read about Shaka Rising author/illustrator Luke W. Molver in this Q&A. And you can learn more about the awards, and the other winners and honorees here.

Celebrating a Year of Catalyst Press

A sampling of the Catalyst catalog (plus Jessica’s own YA novels)

Around 50 people attended Catalyst’s first anniversary party at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, California, a few miles away from Catalyst’s Livermore headquarters. Three musicians from Cheza Nami came to make music, representing Africa from the west coast to the east coast. We sang and danced, drank wine and ate cheese and cake, and talked books. I spoke briefly for about 15 minutes, talking about why I started Catalyst and fielding questions from the audience. The most embarrassing, asked by my 8-year-old son, was the following: Which book is your favorite? Since one of my authors, Caroline Kurtz, was in the audience, I didn’t feel like I could really answer that! Instead, I talked about two books that I have published which I feel are really important books to be out in the world: The Lion’s Binding Oath and Other Stories by Ahmed Ismail Yusuf and Shaka Rising: Legend of the Warrior Prince. Continue reading “Celebrating a Year of Catalyst Press”

#ReadingAfrica Week

Join us for Reading Africa Week December 2-8!

Last year, we launched our first-ever Reading Africa Week. We wanted to bring attention to all of the writers who are doing all kinds of diverse and genre-spanning work from every corner of Africa. And because we’re an indie publisher, we really wanted to spotlight all of the great things our colleagues in the indie publishing world are doing. So if you want to a) highlight the diversity of African writers and b) show off how awesome the indie world is in doing just that, you start a campaign called Reading Africa—at least that’s what we did.

We reached out to a few presses and asked them to use the hashtag #ReadingAfrica on their social media posts to spotlight new books, old favorites, upcoming releases, and gems from their catalogs to show people that in the words of Cassava Republic founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, “African writing is not a genre. It encapsulates different genres.” This year, we’re planning an even bigger event, and we’ve reached out to more publishers, literary orgs, and bloggers. Continue reading “#ReadingAfrica Week”

Interview with Catalyst Founder at Bookology Magazine

First of all, bookology is a delightful word to say. Go on. Say it. We’ll wait… Fun, right? Secondly, the good folks at the delightfully-named Bookology Magazine chatted with Catalyst founder Jessica Powers to talk about our children’s/young adult offerings.

[Jessica’s] goal is to bring to Western readers books that reveal the world from different perspectives—tilting, reversing or tweaking the standard Western understanding of what’s real, true, necessary, or beautiful. Her motivation to create this press is her belief that books can be the fire and fuel for change. One book in the hands of one child can change—and has changed—the world for many.
Head over to Bookology to read the full interview, and many thanks to them and to interviewer Nancy Bo Flood!

 

 

Who Can Beat a Superhero? Reflections from Comic Con Africa

Some members from the Story Press Africa team, our collaborative imprint with Jive Media Africa, were at Comic Con Africa, and they had an amazing time! It was a pleasure to meet so many dedicated fans, fantastic publishers, and talented artists and to bring Shaka Rising to South African audiences (and now, it’s official; Shaka Rising is available through North America and South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana!). We’re sharing some of our thoughts from the event, and what we took away from it. Read on for reflections from Hilary Kromberg and Robert Inglis. And for a really great visual wrap-up of the event, be sure to check out this one-minute documentary from the talented folks at DocuMinute (which features some artwork from Shaka Rising!)

Continue reading “Who Can Beat a Superhero? Reflections from Comic Con Africa”

Q&A with Luke W. Molver

This Q&A is an extended version of the one that appeared in our most recent newsletter. Want to read more interviews like this, plus stay up-to-date on everything going on at Catalyst Press? Be sure to subscribe!

Earlier this year, we released Shaka Rising: A Legend of the Warrior Prince by author/illustrator Luke W. Molver. This graphic novel was the first release in our African Graphic Novel Series and the first release under our Story Press Africa imprint. The book was praised by The Wall Street Journal, Kirkus, Booklist, and the Midwest Book Review. This nuanced look at the life of the legendary Zulu king is part family saga, part military epic, and part history lesson. It has been a pleasure to bring Shaka’s story to readers. Luke will be bringing this story to even more readers as the book makes its South African release this month. Luke will be celebrating that, along with his other accomplishments at Comic Con Africa in Johannesburg this month.

We chatted with Luke about his work, writing Shaka, and what’s next for him. Keep up with Luke at his website, on Instagram, and on Facebook.  Continue reading “Q&A with Luke W. Molver”

Luke W. Molver in The Independent

Shaka Rising, the first book in our African Graphic Novel Series, makes its debut in South Africa in September! We’re pretty excited. Ahead of the book’s release, its author Luke W. Molver, was interviewed by South African newspaper The Independent. Some highlights: Continue reading “Luke W. Molver in The Independent”