We love seeing Catalyst Press authors in the news! This week, Young Blood author Sifiso Mzobe spoke with author Jacob Ross about crime writing in South Africa and the Caribbean, at Rofhiwa Books in Durham, NC. Check out the replay here. And this upcoming Wednesday, Rofhiwa Books hosts another Catalyst Press author, Barbara Boswell of Unmaking Grace, in conversation with Professor Shanna Benjamin about the intellectual legacies of Black women in South Africa and the US. Register for the event here, which will take place at 10:00am EST on this Wednesday July 9th. Barbara is also featured in a new essay collection about Black feminist writers of South Africa. She’s joined by a host of other amazing writers including Catalyst author Yewande Omotoso (Bom Boy). The collection got some great press this week.
It’s my favorite week of the year: which is 1. Hay Festival Week (which runs through this Sunday) and 2. The kickoff week of Pride Month! View the digital Hay Fest program to register for this weekend’s panels and catch up on all the ones you’ve already missed! Spoiler alert: it’s the best lineup yet. And to celebrate Pride, here’s a booklist from Harper’s Bazaar, queer romances from Book Riot, and a quiz to help you pick your first (and second, and third) LGBTQ+ read. Or check out the winners of the 33rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards, which celebrates LGBTQ+ books and authors, announced this week. Happy reading—and happy Pride!
In more awards news, David Diop has won the International Booker Prize for At Night All Blood Is Black, translated from French by Anna Moschovakis. Here’s David in conversation with… well, The Conversation. Book Riot looks back at 100 years of the Newbery Medal, and the Amazon Literary Partnership awarded more than US$1 million this week to writing programs and literacy nonprofits across the US.
In celebrity book news, Ben Rhodes, former advisor to President Obama, has a new book, Daft Punk gets the literary treatment, and the team behind the Walking Dead comics are poised to create a Walking Dead LEGO crossover comic book series. Julianne Moore and Clive Owen (Children of Men fans rejoice!) teamed up in a new Apple TV limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s mind-bending novel Lisey’s Story, and CNN certainly didn’t like it. And speaking of adaptations, here are 9 books coming to TV and theaters this year. Neil Gaiman? Sign me up.
Lois Ehlert, creator of the beloved Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book and many others, has passed away, and here’s the ten best books by Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, whom we lost the week prior.
Here’s two things I can’t explain this week: someone’s eating Bibles in Boston, and a podcast unpacking all six Knausgaard autobiographies has become an overnight sensation.
Some good news for you: A new program in the UK is paying authors royalties for used book sales for the first time ever, a number of high-profile comic book authors are coming together to curate a Literary Tarot Deck in promotion of the Blink Literacy Project, and a Pittsburgh ice cream shop is bribing people to read.
Here’s your weekly booklist roundup: an epic lineup of authors, activists and entertainers (all of whom are speaking at Hay Fest—register above!) recommend their top reads to inspire change, Rahul Raina gives book recs about con-artists and swindlers, and Book List has some sci-fi thrillers for you. Here’s 7 fiction books to replace your business books this year, 10 green economy reads, and 20 books about music for young readers. Finally, I will continue to shout from the rooftops about Netflix’s “Shadow and Bone” until all of you have watched it. Here’s a book list for what to read after you finish. After, people.
In thought provoking reads, here’s Pamela Erens on the disdain for writing children’s literature, Emma Paterson on literary agenting, and Dublin Literary Award winner Valeria Luiselli on the importance of reading and writing fiction. Two great excerpts from LitHub: David Gessner on how Thoreau taught him to journal and Peter Wohlleben on finding the roots of literary language in trees. On Book Riot, join Carina Pereira of The Netherlands’ indie bookstore Bosch&deJong for a day in the life of an indie bookseller, and join Tika Viteri for a deep dive into the history of Sherlock Holmes. The Atlantic reports on why the anti-Biden book won’t take off, and Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth, talks with Vogue about queer family narratives.
Here’s Maui Smith with two poems on mental illness, and if you love covers as much as I do, follow the evolution of these 10 book covers, from original concept to final design. [Ed note: you can also check out this Q&A with Catalyst’s cover designer Karen Vermeulen all about her design process for one of our recent releases, The Theory of Flight]
And finally, Flannery O’Connor teaches a chicken to walk backwards, and Maria Popova reads Emily Dickinson.
