Our 2022 releases: Top row left to right: All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa, The History of Man, The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap, On My Papa’s Shoulders. Bottom row left to right: Fly High, Lolo, Today is Tomorrow, Halley’s Comet
This has been an astonishing year for Catalyst Press. We have now been publishing for six years! Our first books—Dark Traces by Martin Steyn and Sacrificed by Chanette Paul, both translations from Afrikaans into English—came out in November 2017. I’m honoured to have started with those two stellar books, and honoured by how far we’ve come.
This year marked milestone after milestone for us. From Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, whose critically-acclaimed and award-winning books we’re proud to publish, being named a Windham-Campbell Prize Winner, to finally getting a review in the New York Times Sunday Book section, to most of our children’s books being selected as Junior Library Guild honour books, to publishing this year’s Caine Prize winner, to starred reviews, to other honours, to other awards, to books being named to important lists … It’s been an incredible year. As I keep saying to people when they ask, “It’s all amazing … and now, if the press can just start making money!”
Being a small independent for-profit publishing company, focusing exclusively on books by African writers and about Africa, is not for the faint-hearted or those who give up easily. In our first few years, we were perhaps easily ignored. Now, not so much. And I’m grateful. I’m grateful to all the authors who have trusted us to publish their manuscripts. To the agents and authors who have sent us manuscripts for consideration, and publishers who have sent us books to consider rights deals. I’m grateful for the publishers who have bought Chinese or Spanish languages rights to some of our books, and to the audio book publishers who have published audio book versions of our books. We’re also incredibly honoured by the continued patronage of our fans and readers.
And I’m so grateful for the seven women and one man who make up Catalyst’s “team”: publicist Ashawnta Jackson, Cape Town Office Manager and publicist SarahBelle Selig, proofreader Jill Bell, cover creator Karen Vermeulen, interior book designer Kathy McInnis, and incredible rights agents Jennifer Thompson and Isabelle Bleeker, and the wonderful, ever supportive Izak de Vries. Naming all of those people makes us sound like a huge team, but in fact, everybody is doing this part-time and juggling lots of other clients on the side. Or perhaps Catalyst is the client on the side, which is A-OK because I’m grateful for everybody putting in their all.
Thank you, thank you, all.
And now, I’m going to go take a nap.
Love you guys,
Jessica Powers, Catalyst Press Founder/Publisher