First up, a few updates on your favorite Catalyst authors! Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author of award-winning novel The Theory of Flight and her upcoming follow-up, The History of Man, recently spoke at the Harare Book Club, and you can catch up on the event here. And mark your calendars for Saturday November 6th at 2pm EST, when Siphiwe will be in conversation with author Courttia Newland in a discussion of Afro-futurism, in partnership with Brooklyn’s Word Bookstore.
Futhi Ntshingila, author of We Kiss Them With Rain is celebrating the launch of her new book, They Got to You Too, in South Africa on Tuesday October 12th at 18:30 SA time, 12:30pm EST, and you can tune in live. Congratulations, Futhi!
And finally, three Catalyst titles were featured in the newest edition of Shelf Unbound Magazine: Sifiso Mzobe’s coming-of-age crime novel Young Blood, Short Story Day Africa’s 2021 anthology Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa, and award-winning author Yewande Omotoso’s debut novel Bom Boy (and there’s even an interview with Yewande!).
Time for some industry news! In the celebrity book world, NFL Football’s Ravens Quarterback Lamar Jackson penned a children’s book, Colin Kaepernick’s book, Abolition for the People, comes out this week, Melinda Gates has started up a nonfiction imprint at Macmillan, and ICYMI, Hillary Clinton is getting into fiction (with some help from Louise Penny). New York State’s ethics commission has initiated an investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s $5.1 million book deal, Katie Couric is pissing some important people off, and one of British comedian David Walliams’ children’s books is getting a rewrite to remove a racist Chinese character.
In awards news, the 2021 National Book Award finalists were announced and Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature—the first Tanzanian to win a Nobel Prize!
Your weekly reading rec roundup: check out these amazing children’s books about neurodiversity and these nine fictional characters with ADHD. Pump yourself up for the new Bond movie with these books about female spies or a Latinx crime anthology. And if you’re in the mood for a crowd but would rather stay in bed—I feel you—check out these books that read like a crowded Sopranos club scene and these crime fiction novels set in claustrophobic small towns.
For some thought provoking reads, Malavika Kannan breaks the Sally Rooney myth with this fascinating piece on the fallacy of universality, Téa Obreht rethinks Rebecca, and on LitHub’s Book Dreams podcast, author Kaitlyn Greenidge discusses the detriment of exceptionalism in Black history. Farhad Manjoo argues in favor of audiobooks and Jessica Pryde argues in favor of older protagonists in romance and gives a reading list. Learn how a 1950s book subscription service helped spark the gay rights movement, how to write a compelling fight scene, and a brief history of monster erotica (just in case Moan for Bigfoot is on your TBR). And while we’re on the topic, take these quizzes to find out which famous fictional monster and literary vampire you are.
And last up, for your viewing pleasure, Liana Finck illustrates the book inside us all, and LitHub rounds up the 25 most iconic book covers in history.