Let’s start out with some Catalyst news! Niki Daly, the author of several children’s books including the Lolo series, was recently awarded a South African Children’s Laureate Award by the University of the Western Cape Faculty of Education and the SA Festival of Children’s Literature. In presenting Niki the prize, children’s lit scholar and editor Dr. Mia Oosthuizen, said it nicely “you capture the imagination and children’s magnificent everyday lives.”
“Thirty years ago, few people in the art world were interested in Africa. The images of the continent that circulated at the time were primarily news images of famines and wars. At best, people had an exotic vision of it.” Great article on how Revue Noire, a magazine and publishing house that brought a nuanced view of Africa through photography.
Our friend Lizzy Attree has a wonderful essay at Africa is a Country on what literature can teach us about our connections to nature and what we owe to the Earth. We are thrilled to be working with Lizzy, and all of the wonderful folks at Short Story Day Africa to release Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa in September.
Love this article in the New York Times on the new generation of African literary magazines. And speaking of literary magazines, Barbara Boswell, author of Unmaking Grace, is the guest editor for the second issue of Imbiza Journal, a new literary magazine from South Africa with a focus on scholarship, creative writing, and criticism by African authors. The issue releases in August, but there’s plenty to read before then at Imbiza‘s site.
“[T]he daily news cycle had started to feel ominous enough that I was concerned an actual apocalypse might arrive while my novel about a fictional one was still in copyediting.” Geoff Rodkey on writing the end of the world while, you know, kind of living it.
For those who like their fiction a little edgier, author T.L. Huchu has a list of 10 Thrilling African Noir Novels. It’s a great list, but we’d also add Ameera Patel’s Outside the Lines and Joanne Hichens’ Divine Justice to the list (but we’re fans of all of our thriller releases!)
“Basically, once I had entered this particular story world, I never wanted to leave it and so decided to write a series of interconnected novels.” Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is interviewed in ASA magazine. She talks about her novels, The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, and how they both work to challenge the colonial narrative. Siphiwe will also be in conversation with fellow author Tsitsi Jaji on August 5. Learn more and register for the event here.
