Happy Women in Translation Month! This month, we’re celebrating with 20% off of Sacrificed (paperback or ebook), the U.S. debut of bestselling Afrikaans author Chanette Paul, translated by Elsa Silke. Read an excerpt of the thriller that the New York Journal of Books says “places Chanette Paul among the classiest thriller writers of our day.” And be sure check out some of our posts from WIT Months past with tips on how you can add more translated literature— especially by women authors— to your bookshelves!
In celebrity author news, Mel Brooks is penning a memoir at 95, our beloved Mother of Dragons Emilia Clarke has a new superhero comic book (sigh…not about dragons), and Abby Wambach recommends three books on sports and leadership. And in South African author news, 38-year-old Karen Jennings is nominated for a Booker for her novel, The Island. This week, she spoke with The Guardian about repeated rejections and writing while poor.
Romance Writers of America is in trouble again, after having awarded their top prize for religious book of the year to a book about a genocidal, misogynistic maniac—and then promptly rescinding it. And just when we thought they were fixing things up over at RWA…
And in the most buzz-worthy industry news of the week, late Scholastic CEO Richard Robinson bypassed his family in his will, leaving the $1.2 billion company to an employee he dated. Eish.
Your best booklist round-up: check out these music novels to sing about, horror books for camping , mysteries set on transportation, and vacations gone (deadly) wrong. The Guardian ranks the top ten millennial heroines in fiction, and Electric Lit recommends books about Internet identity. Hear from the “other woman” with these books on marital affairs, or trigger your claustrophobia with these books on women stuck in limbo. And not really a book list, but you’re welcome anyways: Annika Barranti Klein took the liberty of collecting the best romantic gestures, first kisses, and sex scenes from novels she’s read (which is why we all read, right?). And while you’re in the mood, contemplate these readers’ most popular fan fiction ships.
In other Catalyst news, our upcoming African short story collection, Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa, curated by the amazing team over at Short Story Day Africa, received a glowing review from The Shining Girls award-winning author Lauren Beukes, who called it “an electric collection of stories that seethe with horror and beauty.” And last but not least, The Theory of Flight author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu was in conversation on Thursday with author and English professor Tsitsi Jaji, hosted by the virtual Red Rice & Beans Diaspora Bookstore. You can catch up on the conversation here, and pre-order Siphiwe’s next book The History of Man, available in North America in January.
In thought provoking reads, Ashlie Swicker looks for fat kids in picture books, Alice Mattison reflects on the experience of reading as she slowly goes blind, and Roxanne Fequiere vouches for judging a book by its cover. Educate yourself on sci-fi’s silk punk genre, the history of cozy mystery genre’s notoriously punny titles, and what murder mysteries get wrong about careers in forensic science.
On LitHub, Sara Batkie reads Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet over the course of a COVID year, and on Book Riot, Eileen Gonzalez continues her #SuperheroProblems column with the most outrageous uses of evolution in superhero comics. This author was more productive than you during COVID, and Eimear McBride wants you to stop feeling ashamed about it (and everything else).
And finally, David Whyte’s poem on accepting the love we don’t think we deserve and gorgeous flash fiction from Nardine Taleb.
