Catalyst volume 16 - Wireless Compassion

Catalyst volume 16 - cover featuring artwork by Bayartsengel Bum-Erdene

Today we're proud to be launching Catalyst Volume 16 Wireless Compassion.

The culmination of another year of reading, traveling and selecting poetry from around the world and Aotearoa New Zealand. The sub-title Wireless Compassion reflects a number of synergies for both Catalyst's home city of Ōtautahi Christchurch and Editor-in-Chief Doc Drumheller.

2019 saw a horrific act of terrorism visited on Christchurch that, far from achieving division, actually united and mobilised the compassion of the people of Christchurch. Following events of that day, the regular poetry open mics hosted by Catalyst provided a thoughtful, safe and welcoming space for many of the poets and writers of Christchurch to spread love and compassion through their words.

Later in the year Doc travelled to India for the 39th World Congress of Poets for which the theme 'Compassion through poetry' particularly resonated.

With suites of featured poetry from India, Mongolia and the Word Congress of Poets as well as individual poets from Aotearoa New Zealand and the world, Volume 16 Wireless Compassion represents hope, kindness, compassion and peace while still asking questions, seeking after answers and celebrating the written (and printed) word.

Thank you to all our supporters, subscribers, submitters and readers who have journeyed with us for part or all of sixteen years. We quite like being teenagers.

Read on.

Catalyst volume 16 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS deadline 1st April!

We're pleased to announce that Catalyst is accepting submissions for our next volume, number 16.

The deadline is 1st April and we encourage all submitters to read our submission guidelines. Submissions that do not follow the guidelines will not be considered.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all our subscribers and submitters for supporting the journal over its first fifteen years in print. Here's to fifteen more (and if you haven't yet subscribed maybe head on over to our subscriptions page to find out more - might make a great gift too! 😉)

Book launch! Catalyst Volume 13, Instant Chemistry

Yes it's that best of all times for us - when we get to announce the launch of the latest volume of the flagship publication from our Republic of Oma Rāpeti Press.  That's right, it's the arrival of a brand new, bouncing baby Catalyst - lucky volume 13.  And this one carries those rarest of rare Catalyst things - a subtitle!

Catalyst 13: Instant Chemistry
launching Thursday 25th August
in two sessions: 6pm-6.30pm & 6.45-7.15pm
at The Last Word, New Regent St

Catalyst 13 features poetry from our sister city Seattle, China, Bulgaria, Slam Poetry, and some of the leading poets from New Zealand.

We're excited to be featured in this year's WORD Christchurch programme in the New Regent Street Pop-Up Festival. The event will feature: Lady Poets, Catalyst poets, sci-fi and fantasy, erotica, flash fiction, live storytelling and more, in a variety of bars, cafés and shops on the evening of Thursday 25 August.  The book launch of Catalyst 13 will run with two sessions at 6pm - 6.30pm & 6.45pm - 7.15pm, at The Last Word.

The MC for the launch will be Ciaran Fox, with readings by contributors, featuring: Doc Drumheller, Mohamed Hassan, Ken Arkind, and Carrie Rudzinski. 

For more awesome literary action check out the rest of the programme for: WORD Christchurch

Call for Submissions: Aotearotica - a journal of NZ erotic writing

Yes, another new literary journal is launching, this time in Christchurch and joining the two established literary journals of Canterbury (the venerable Takahe and young upstart itself Catalyst) comes Aotearoa New Zealand's first journal of erotic writing and art Aotearotica. 

So good, we wish we'd thought of it ourselves.  Aotearotica is an independent publication and we're happy to support the hell out of it any way we can.  The journal is actively seeking writing and art that explores sex, sexuality and eroticism from a New Zealand perspective.  From their own description:

Aotearotica is a literary journal that aims to present erotic writing and art work exploring the depth and diversity of New Zealanders’ sexuality, with a focus on a high standard of work.

The journal was born out of recognition that there is nowhere for work that focuses on sex to exist right now, and yet it's a key part of the human experience, and we wanted to explore it!

The journal is actively seeking writing that explores sex and sexuality from a diverse range of authors and artists, who cater to heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer perspectives.

Here's the submission guidelines:

Please send fiction, poetry, essays, memoir and art that can be easily reproduced in black and white to: aotearotica@gmail.com.

Please include your name and ‘Submission’ in the subject line, and attach your work as a word document in Times New Roman 12pt font for writing and PDF for artwork. The deadline for Volume One is June 30^th 2016

Aotearotica has a Facebook page - like it and follow the arousal of a new journal here.

They are also on Instagram - for those of you more into visual stimulation...