Another week, another selection of some of the week’s news! (News here being defined as book and book-related. I’m not sure I have the strength to recap the news at-large).
Over at The New Internationalist, there’s a lovely short essay by Yewande Omotoso on why she’s filled her house with plants. Yewande is a regular contributor there, so be sure to check out more of her work— they are all just as lovely. You can also pick up her fantastic novel, Bom Boy, of which we are proud to be the US publisher.
There are two great pieces at LitHub. The first, from Rebecca Solnit asks readers to seriously consider what it being asked of them with post-election calls to bridge divides: “[T]he truth is not some compromise halfway between the truth and the lie, the fact and the delusion, the scientists and the propagandists. And the ethical is not halfway between white supremacists and human rights activists, rapists and feminists, synagogue massacrists and Jews, xenophobes and immigrants, delusional transphobes and trans people. Who the hell wants unity with Nazis until and unless they stop being Nazis?” The second is a reprint of Walter Moseley’s speech from the National Book Awards where he was honored with The Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters: “There’s a great weight hanging over the reception of an award when the underlying subject is, the first Black man to receive… We the people who are darker than blue, we have been here, on this continent, in this storm for 400 years. […] Is this a dying gasp or a first breath? Is today different from any other day over the past 400 years? I prefer to believe that we are on the threshold of a new day, that this evening is but one of ten thousand steps being taken to recognize the potential of this nation.” And congratulations to all of the NBA winners! You can see a list of honorees here.
Big news for reviews this week! Last week we were excited about the great review of Joanne Hichens’ Divine Justice in Publishers Weekly, and this week the publication has us excited again with a starred review of Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu’s The Theory of Flight! From their review: “An unnamed African country’s violence and AIDS epidemic frame a woman’s personal loss in Zimbabwean writer and filmmaker Ndlovu’s epic, supremely well-crafted debut. […] This transcendent and powerful testament to the indomitable human spirit is not to be missed.” You can pre-order The Theory of Flight and Divine Justice now. Both are set for release in January. We were also pleased to see this great review of Niki Daly’s Lolo series from Global Literature in Libraries. Both of Niki’s charming books, Here Comes Lolo and Hooray for Lolo, are out now. A third book, You’re a Star, Lolo, releases this spring.
Check out this interview excerpt at Bomb magazine with artist Odili Donald Odita, as part of their Oral History Project. Odita “recounts his migration with his parents from Nigeria at the start of the Biafran War, and the deep influence his father, a professor of African art, had on his growth as an artist.”
“Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996, six days after a being ambushed in a drive-by shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard. Almost 25 years later, he is still very much alive in countries across Africa. Youth from Kenya, to Liberia, to Zimbabwe strut the streets in t-shirts bearing his image.” Head over to Africa is a Country to read an essay on Tupac’s enduring legacy in Africa.
A new literary festival in South Africa, the Madibaland World Literary Festival looks fantastic, and includes several Catalyst authors. Barbara Boswell! Joanne Hichens! Bridget Krone! Check out the lineup here, and read an interview with festival organizer Darryl David on this “celebration of writers – of what they mean to society, and what they can tell us about ourselves” at LitNet.
Congratulations to Caroline Kurtz! Ready Set Go, the publishing company she started with her sister, author Jane Kurtz, has just published their 100th book! The company is dedicated to publishing books for young readers that spotlight Ethiopian stories and languages. We were proud to publish A Road Called Down on Both Sides, Caroline’s award-winning memoir about her childhood growing up in rural Ethiopia. Learn more about Ready Set Go here.
