It’s almost time for #ReadingAfrica Week 2020!

 

We are just nine days away from the start of #ReadingAfrica week 2020, and we’re so excited for the festivities to begin! We launched our #ReadingAfrica week-long campaign in 2017 as a way to get readers excited about African stories and to celebrate the authors and publishers bringing African literature to the world. 

 

From December 6-12, we’re inviting readers, writers, publishers, booksellers, and booklovers of all kinds to flock to social media and tweet, post, or share what they’re reading, using the hashtag #ReadingAfrica. It can be an old favorite or a new discovery, poetry, sci-fi, comics, crime… anything goes! (Want to brush up on your African lit before the event? Check out Bookshop's 2020 #ReadingAfrica book list to get some ideas!)

 

We want to make this year’s event the biggest one yet, and that’s why we’re bringing you TWO virtual events during #ReadingAfrica 2020:

 

On Sunday, December 6 at 19:00 GMT+2 (12:00 EST), join us for our #ReadingAfrica kick-off event co-hosted with LitNet, featuring Ahmed Ismail Yusuf (The Lion’s Binding Oath), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Theory of Flight), Justin Cox (CEO, African Books Collective), Rešoketšwe Manenzhe (winner, Dinaane Debut Fiction prize), Catalyst founder Jessica Powers, and moderated by LitNet’s Izak De Vries. The panel will discuss all things African publishing, the importance and diversity of African literature, and the best books of the year.

 

On Wednesday, December 9 at 19:00 GMT+2 (12:00 EST), tune into our African Crime Novel Panel, featuring Sifiso Mzobe (Young Blood and Searching for Simphiwe), Ameera Patel (Outside the Lines), Mike Nicol (Agents of the State), Bettina Wyngaard (Slaafs and Jagter), and moderated by Michael Sears (crime columnist and author of the Detective Kubu Series). The panel will cover topics like what it means to write an “authentic” African crime novel, current trends in thriller writing, and what books have influenced the panelists in their writing careers.

 

Register here for both events, or find out more about the panelists.

 

Throughout the week, be sure to use the hashtag #ReadingAfrica on your posts so that you can engage with other participants worldwide. We’re also encouraging everyone to add their own hashtags in other languages, such as #OokInAfrikaans, #siyafundaisiZulu, or #siyafundaisiXhosa! Check out LitNet’s #ReadingAfrica release for more details.

 

We'll be posting some great content leading up to and during #ReadingAfrica week, so make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I’ve attached this year’s #ReadingAfrica logo, so feel free to use it when you post. Please let me know if you'll be participating. 

 

This will be my last reminder, so be sure to mark your calendars!

 

All the best,

SarahBelle Selig

+27 071 510 9337

 

Catalyst Press

Distributed globally by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution 

Distributed in Southern Africa by LAPA Uitgewers  

 

Catalyst Press is an independent publishing company founded in 2017. Publishing literary fiction, graphic novels, memoir, travel, crime fiction, books for young readers, and more, with a particular focus on Africa and African diaspora, our authors explore lives, stories, and places in ways that make our global community feel more connected and reveal the world from different perspectives and different understandings.