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Get Ready for #ReadingAfrica!
We're getting ready for our fifth (!!!) #ReadingAfrica celebration, and we hope you'll join us!
#ReadingAfrica is our annual celebration of African literature. That means classics, new releases, poetry, graphic novels, non-fiction, kids' books, you name it. From December 5-11, use the hashtag #ReadingAfrica across social media on posts that spotlight African literature in all its forms.
And because it's our fifth anniversary, we've got a lot planned. Be sure to check our website and social media for updates!
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Out now
Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa
Twenty-one new and emerging authors from across Africa explore the many ways that we grow, adapt, and survive in the face of our ever-changing global realities. Disruption features evocative, often prescient, stories, investigating many of the pressing issues of our time: climate change, pandemics, social upheaval, surveillance, and more.
Praise for Disruption:
“An electric collection of stories that seethes with horror and beauty.” — Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls and Afterland
"The stories in this collection are a call to continue hoping. As long as we move forward and continue to survive on this earth, there is still time for healing, both for the earth and ourselves." — Shelf Unbound
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Upcoming Events
November 6 at 2:00PM ET: Word Bookstore in Brooklyn hosts Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Theory of Flight) and Courttia Newland (Cosmogramma) for a discussion of their work. Moderated by Sean Jacobs. Access to this event requires a $5 voucher that can be used towards the purchase of the event books, or anything else at Word. Register here.November 12 11-2 ET: The Radical Books Collective hosts "Beyond Wakanda! Celebrating New African Speculative Fiction," a full day of author talks. Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Theory of Flight) and Courttia Newland (Cosmogramma) will be in conversation, moderated by Lizzy Attree. Register here. You can also save 15% off of The Theory of Flight when you buy from our site. Use the code RADICAL at checkout.
Authors Futhi Ntshingila (We Kiss Them With Rain) and Yewande Omotoso (Bom Boy) will be appearing as part of the Open Book Festival's podcast series. The series features authors who are either South African or South Africa based, and "listeners can expect to hear the writers engage on themes that include queerness, grief, gender based violence, love and so much more." The series runs November 8– 24. Visit the Open Book Festival website for more information.
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Reviews!Â
We've been thrilled to see so many great reviews over the past month!
Catalyst books covered the pages of Shelf Unbound's "Read Global" issue, which featured reviews of Disruption, Bom Boy, and Young Blood, as well as an interview with Yewande Omotoso.
On Disruption: "The beautiful and the ugly, grief and hope, warnings from our past and for our future—Disruption captures all of this."
On Bom Boy: "A short and refreshing novel that I very much recommend, especially if you love character-driven writing."
On Young Blood: " Mzobe’s journalistic training manifests in each meticulous detail that paints a harrowing portrait of crime life in Umlazi, and hijackings, cold-blooded killings, and drug and alcohol use leap from the page. But at the heart of the book lies another message, one about friendship, family, community, and the value of education. It’s this message that leaves the reader hopeful."
Hannes Barnard's forthcoming YA novel Halley's Comet was in Kirkus Reviews who called it, "a thrilling, tension-filled story of friendship, love, radicalism, and justice that will resonate with many readers." Halley's Comet releases in January, and pre-orders are available now.
And Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu's The History of Man was praised by Publishers Weekly, "Ndlovu impresses with a fresh and astute perspective on colonialism, race, and family that focuses on white South African-born civil servant Emil Coetzee, who appeared in the author’s debut, The Theory of Flight." The History of Man is out in January, and pre-orders are available now.Â
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