First up, some Catalyst news! Make sure to mark your calendars for three epic virtual events we’re hosting for our fifth annual #Reading Africa week: an African comics and graphic novels event on December 6th, an African kid lit event on December 8th, and an African women authors’ event on December 10th. All events will be held at 12:00pm EST, or 7:00pm SAST. #ReadingAfrica week starts December 5th and lasts all week long, so be sure to follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to join in on the festivities!
ICYMI, Brittle Paper and Radical Books Collective hosted their “Beyond Wakanda” event last week, a celebration of African speculative fiction. Catch up on this awesome panel between Catalyst’s The Theory of Flight author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu and Cosmogramma author Courttia Newland, led by Lizzy Attree. And lastly, Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa cover designer Megan Ross was named a finalist for the 2021 GBAS Book Cover Awards!
In industry news, Empire of Pain author Patrick Radden Keefe took home the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction this week, and the winners of the 2021 National Book Awards were announced. Learn more about this year’s fiction winner, Jason Mott, and his novel, Hell of a Book. A Harry Potter 20th anniversary reunion is airing on New Year’s Day, The Girls author Emma Cline is starting an imprint, and finance celebrity Gary V. secured one million sales of his new book in one weekend—by leveraging NFTs. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is releasing a new book, and so is Kevin from “The Office.”
The makers of a French dictionary are facing heat for incorporating gender inclusive pronouns into their recent addition, and the book world suffered two sad losses this week: Petra Mayer, NPR’s books editor, died this week at the age of 46, and bestselling South African author Wilbur Smith died at the age of 88.
Time for your weekly reading recs round-up! Check out these binary-breaking books by intersex authors, a reading list for Indigenous Heritage Month, and new Christmas books for kids. For a little armchair travel, try one of these 9 contemporary novels set in Appalachia and 9 books to trigger your travel bug (And if that still hasn’t satisfied the armchair travel craving, may we suggest Henry Trotter’s Cape Town: A Place Between?) If adaptation’s your vibe, try these Little Women retellings, these middle grade classic fairytale retellings, or these sci-fi movies based on books. And as you prep your book pile for the holidays, enjoy one of these cozy romances, genre-bending nonfiction, or women-authored history books, or prep for a business-savvy 2022 with these management and leadership books.
In thought-provoking pieces, All Boys Aren’t Blue author George M. Johnson talks getting banned, and offers some tips how you can fight book bans in your community; Bess Levin calls book banners the modern Nazis; and Danika Ellis explains why trying to ban queer books will fail (spoiler: because they’re everywhere). Sadie Graham calls out Sally Rooney’s misleading queer representation and Jessica Lanay calls out the Candyman horror film for ignoring state violence against Black women and femmes.
On Book Riot, Patricia Thang goes Marie Kondo on her book collection, Elisa Shoenberger gives a short history about teeny, tiny books, Jessica Plummer begs readers to stop being surprised about Jewish comic authors, and Kelly Jensen explains what the new H.R.3684 bill means for libraries. Elsewhere, Virtue author Hermoine Hoby contemplates the fine line between politics and pleasure, and Michele Kirichanskaya explores the queer and Jewish influences behind Where The Wild Things Are.
And finally, some good news to start your weekend off right: the pet fish at Lorain Public Library in Sheffield Lake, Ohio got a new job as a therapy fish at a local hospital. 🐠❤️
