"This transcendent and powerful testament to the indomitable human spirit is not to be missed." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

From 2022 Windham Campbell Prize winner Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu

Book 1 in the City of Kings trilogy

As Imogen Zula Nyoni, aka Genie, lies in a coma at Mater Dei Hospital after having suffered through a long illness, her family and friends struggle to come to terms with her impending death. This is the story of Genie, who has gifts that transcend time and space. It is also the story of her forebears - Baines Tikiti, who, because of his wanderlust, changed his name and ended up walking into the Indian Ocean; his son, Livingstone Stanley Tikiti, who, during the war, took as his nom de guerre Golide Gumede and who became obsessed with flight; and Golide's wife, Elizabeth Nyoni, a country-and-western singer self-styled after Dolly Parton, blonde wig and all.

With the lightest of touches, and with an overlay of magical-realist beauty, this novel sketches, through the lives of a few families and the fate of a single patch of ground, decades of national history (a country in Southern Africa that is never named) - from colonial occupation through the freedom struggle, to the devastation wrought by the sojas, the HIV virus, and The Man Himself. At turns mysterious and magical, but always honest, The Theory of Flight explores the many ways we lose those we love before they die.

300 review copies (150 prepub, 150 postpub) sent to reviewers, booksellers, librarians, bloggers, others. Available as an e-ARC on Edelweiss and Netgalley. Blog tour with book giveaways. Goodreads giveaway. We will seek features and reviews from newspapers, magazines, and journals. Promotion targeting Lithub, Electric Lit, Slate, and others . We will create a reading guide for book clubs and others interested in reading the book in a group setting. The reading guide will be printed in the book and will include a Q&A with the author. We will seek blurbs from NoViolet Bulawayo and Masande Ntshanga. We will seek out book clubs who are interested in the book. Promotion at book fairs and trade shows--ALA annual, ALA mid-winter, African Studies Association, etc. We will submit the book for relevant awards. Promotion online via Catalyst's website, email lists and social media (blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) with author and publisher interviews, chats, and guest posts. Simultaneous e-book and print release. Readers Guide available.

About the Author
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is a Windham Campbell Prize winning (2022) writer, filmmaker and academic who holds a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University, as well as master's degrees in African Studies and Film. She has published research on Saartjie Baartman and she wrote, directed and edited the award-winning short film Graffiti. Born in Zimbabwe, she worked as a teacher in Johannesburg before returning to Zimbabwe. The Theory of Flight is her first novel and won the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize in South Africa.

Reviews

"The Theory of Flight ... fuses together a range of histories and registers into a distinctive, moving, and provocative whole. [...] A richly-textured meditation on colonial history and civil war, The Theory of Flight is also a magical realist novel of great wonder and a sweeping multi-generational family saga." -2022 Windham Campbell Prize committee

"This epic novel weaves magical realism and myth in the life story of Imogen "Genie" Zula Nyoni (who is HIV positive) and her South African family history, including wars, poverty, colonialization, love and race." -POZ Magazine

Awards
Winner of Barry Ronge Fiction Prize (South Africa).



Book Information
ISBN 9781946395412
Author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Format Paperback
Page Count 316
Imprint Catalyst Books
Publisher Catalyst Books