Hot from the Press
We are so excited to announce the launch of our newest series, Panel & Page! The new series is where we’ll be publishing most of our upcoming graphic novels, and we’re so excited to use this announcement to officially tell you about all of the amazing graphic novels you can expect in 2023. You can find out more about Pearl of the Sea and KARIBA—our two upcoming releases from South Africa—and how they’re connected to the award-winning animation studio Triggerfish in this awesome mention here. And speaking of graphic novels, many thanks to World Kit Lit’s Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp for highlighting Shaka Rising—our very first graphic novel release— as one of her top 12 global children’s books for history lovers this week on Words Without Borders!
Lots of events on the way! Caroline Kurtz, author of the award-winning memoir A Road Called Down on Both Sides and the recently-released Today is Tomorrow, visits Chapters Books in Newberg, OR on October 7th as part of the city’s First Friday Artwalk. Also be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday October 27th at 6pm EST for the virtual 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards ceremony, where Young Blood author Sifiso Mzobe is being honored alongside the other shortlisted authors! And last up, we’re so excited that four Catalyst authors will be taking part in this amazing South African book tour hosted by Atlas Book Club founder Bunmi Emenanjo, where she’ll be bringing overseas visitors to South Africa to explore the country’s incredible beauty and wonderfully diverse literary scene.
In other news…
In library news, hundreds of authors have signed an open letter in support of libraries’ access to digital books, several libraries in England and Wales are making renovations to allow for people in need of shelter to come inside and get warm, and did you know that the University of Florida has a digitized library of over 7,000 19th century children’s books, available for free? [Editor’s Note: One more because libraries are the best: In honor of Banned Books Week, the New York Public Library is offering instant access of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved through October 31.]
Two-time Booker award-winning author Hilary Mantel passed away unexpectedly this week. The 2022 US National Book Awards longlist was announced, as was the shortlist for the 2022 Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and here’s some predictions of who will win this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature.
And finally, enjoy Jonny Diamond’s take on that viral tweet debating whether non-hotties can write about hotties (and vice versa).
#ReadingAfrica roundup
In this section, we’re sharing publishing news, book recs, and more all focused on African and African diaspora authors. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our sixth annual #ReadingAfrica week, this year December 4-10
Here are the writers of African descent on the 2022 Diverse Book Awards shortlist, the Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation shortlist, and the 2022 National Book Awards longlist. Scholastica Moraa was awarded the 2022 Kendeka Prize for African Literature and Scholastique Mukasonga was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. Tsitsi Dangarembga received a suspended sentence and a fine in Harare for a peaceful protest in 2020 against government corruption, but plans to appeal the decision.
From the Backlist
In honor of the launch of Panel & Page (and the sneaky Barly Baruti reveal in the series’ announcement), our featured backlist title today is Madame Livingstone, written by comics historian Christophe Cassiau-Haurie, illustrated by beloved Congolese illustrator Barly Baruti, and translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger. A historical fiction story of adventure and friendship against the backdrop of World War I, Madame Livingstone is based on the true story of two vastly different men— one Belgian, one African— who take on one impossible mission: the sinking of a German battleship in the Congo.
Madame Livingstone
Created by Christophe Cassiau-Haurie and Barly Baruti translated from French by Ivanka Hahnenberger
Aviator Gaston Mercier, lieutenant in the Royal Belgian Army, arrives at Lake Tanganyika, Congo in 1915 on orders to sink a critical German warship, the Graf Von Götzen. To find out the ship’s exact position, he is assigned a guide, an enigmatic, mixed-race African and the supposed son of the famous explorer, David Livingstone, who is nicknamed “Mrs. Livingstone” for the Scottish kilt he wears.
Little by little, while the war between Belgian and German colonial powers rages on and the pair hunt down the Graf Von Götzen, the young Belgian pilot learns more about the land around him from Mrs. Livingstone and discovers the irrevocable and tragic effects of colonialism on the local people.
Order your copy, read an expert, or check out this Q&A with the creators.
Praise for Madame Livingstone
“The complexities of war are explored with a curious what-if twist in this elegantly drawn adventure. […] a well-researched drama of human connections forged in an inhumane period.” —Publishers Weekly
“Madame Livingstone uses a World War I conflict in the Congo as the backdrop for an exciting adventure, glimpsing into the country’s history of colonial exploitation. […] Madame Livingstone is a rousing historical tale. Its excellent, authentic art is attentive to details when picturing boats, airplanes, uniforms, and Congolese clothing and landscapes.”—Foreword Reviews
“Not a simple action-oriented graphic representation, the colourful and often lurid visuals carry readers into places that their own minds may well have resisted. One can see the environment, visualize the territory, and conjure the many overarching and continual racist tensions. […] This can be an engaging and conflicting experience that increases the adventure and supports Barly Baruti’s statement: ‘Comics are good dialogue.’” —Historical Novels Review
“[A] nuanced meditation on the forms resistance can take within a colonial system. […] [A] unique and important graphic novel.” —2021 VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award Committee
About the creators
Born in Douala, Cameroon in 1968 and raised in France, Christophe Cassiau-Haurie is a library curator and comics specialist. He is currently Director of Public Services for the National and University Library of Strasbourg, after having held several positions in Africa including time in Mauritius and five years in the DRC. He also serves as director of the comic book collection of L’Harmattan, one of the largest French book publishers. Cassiau-Haurie is the author of several articles and collective works on the state of publishing and comics in Africa. He has authored and contributed to numerous graphic novels in French, most of which are based on African histories. He did his postgraduate studies in African Studies and Public Law.
Baruti Kandolo Lilela, better known by his pen name Barly Baruti, is a renowned Congolese cartoonist. He was born in 1959 in Kisangani into a family of painters. After studying pedagogy, Baruti worked at French cultural centers in Kisangani and Kinshasa, where he produced his first comic work, an environmental comic titled Le temps d’agir. He has been described by the BBC as “the Congolese author best known outside his country.” Baruti is the co-founder of the Atelier de Création et de l’Initiation à l’Art (Creative Workshop for an Initiation to Art) to encourage talented youth in Kinshasa. He has lived in France and Belgium, where he apprenticed with several renowned comic artists. He currently lives in Kinshasa.
Ivanka Hahnenberger has translated over 60 comics and graphic novels, including several highly acclaimed titles such as Climate Changed, Blue is the Warmest Color, Madame Livingstone (a 2021 New York Times Globetrotting title) and Catherine’s War, which won her the Silver 2021 Batchelder Award. Born in Berkeley California, she spent part of her childhood in Geneva, Switzerland and lived in a multilingual, multicultural household. In 2003, she co-founded Roving Stage Productions, a production and consulting company for mobile and new media content, which she still manages. In 2007, she bought a brand licensing company VIP which she transformed into VIP BRANDS, a comics agency, translation, and consulting company that represents world English rights for German, French and African comics publishers and organizes world comics events.
