This week’s news is up a little later than usual, but filled with enough news to get you through your week ahead!
Jacana Media has issued its annual call for the Gerald Kraak Prize and Anthology, an anthology and prize on the topics of gender, human rights and sexuality, for writers and photographers across Africa. Submissions are open all year.
Speaking of Jacana, we’re pretty impressed with their “Don’t Shut Up” conversation, masterclass, and broadside series. If you haven’t checked these out, you should. You can catch up on old conversations at their Crowdcast website.
Publishers Weekly reports that even though many independent bookstores have closed permanently, some brave, entrepreneurial book-lovers have actually opened new bookstores during the pandemic! And they are succeeding! We love bookstores and are pleased to hear it.
In Italy, despite the pandemic and sales falling by 20%, book sales have bounced back and sales are now down only by 11%. We’ll take that good news and run with it. We hope US book sales bounce back soon, too.
Great quote of the day, from bookseller James Daunt in Shelf Awareness: “I only have ever been a bookseller. Retailers are specialists — the successful ones tend to be. Amazon is not a bookseller, it’s a seller of books and there’s a distinction between the two.”
In Catalyst News
Bridget Krone, author of the middle-grade novel Small Mercies was recently interviewed by The Witness in South Africa. She discusses her book, her writing process, and how books can help kids cope with some of life’s big issues.
Barbara Boswell, author of Unmaking Grace, has a lovely essay at IOL (South Africa) about how she found comfort and escape in libraries as a child growing up in a violent household.
Ameera Patel’s Outside the Lines is featured in the Book Riot list “10 of the Most Unique Crime Reads.”
Peter Church was recently interviewed by Michael Sears of The Big Thrill magazine. He talks about his newest release, Bitter Pill, what inspired the novel, and his writing life during the coronavirus lockdowns in South Africa.
David Muirhead, author of Cat Among the Pigeons, the first release from our science-focused imprint Powers Squared, was featured on a recent episode of the podast Without Books. Without Books asks authors to share short (three minutes or less) reflections on their work, the writing life, and to imagine a world without books. Listen to David’s episode below:
