Who We Are
Catapult publishes award-winning fiction and nonfiction of the highest literary caliber, offers writing classes taught by acclaimed emerging and established writers, produces an award-winning daily online magazine of narrative nonfiction and fiction, and hosts an open online platform where writers can showcase their own writing, find resources, and get inspired.
We nurture emerging writers by helping them better their craft, and support more established writers by evenly sharing revenues from the classes they teach, and by paying to publish their work online. Catapult strives to be a successful business model for the future of independent publishing.
To read more about our mission and vision, read our mission statement.
Our books: Since our launch in Fall 2015, Catapult’s books and our authors have won numerous major literary awards, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters E. M. Forster Award in Literature, the Maine Literary Award, the Costa Novel Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Our books have been finalists for many other prizes, including the Man Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Goldsmith Prize, the Miles Franklin Award, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the PEN America Open Book Award, the California Book Award for First Fiction, the Stella Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction. Our books are frequently named to the American Booksellers Association Indie Next List, and have been featured as Amazon’s Best Books of the Year, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, Belletrist Book Club picks, and as The New York Times Editors' Choice selections. Our titles have been praised in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, NPR, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many other outlets. To learn more, click here.
The magazine: Catapult is an independent daily digital magazine featuring original essays, fiction, poetry, and art from thousands of contributors and columnists. Catapult won a 2020 National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary. Essays and stories published in the magazine have also been awarded the Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing, nominated for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award, and featured in The Best American Essays and other Best American anthologies, and illustrator Sirin Thada was shortlisted for a Communication Arts Illustration Award in 2021. Catapult Books published the first print anthology of writing drawn from the archives of Catapult magazine, A Map Is Only One Story, in 2020, with future anthologies planned.
Don’t Write Alone: This page is intended to be a resource for writers at every stage of their projects, processes, and careers. We are committed to bringing our readers exciting essays on craft; sharing informative interviews with authors and industry professionals; providing useful tools for pitching, freelancing, and job searching; and sharing educational materials in consultation with experienced and committed creative writing instructors. Catapult is aware of long-standing, harmful systemic practices that make digital media, writing programs, and book publishing less accessible to many, and are committed to providing free information and resources that may help make our industries more inclusive and transparent.
Writing classes: Catapult’s creative writing workshops and master classes are led by award-winning and bestselling authors, and industry professionals at the top of their fields. Our students have been admitted into high-ranking MFA programs, gained representation by literary agents, and have gone on to be published in venues including The New York Times, Elle, and Guernica.
You can read about Catapult in Poets & Writers, The Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly. Sign up for our newsletter to keep up-to-date on Catapult goings-on. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram.
CONTACT US
For general queries: [email protected]
For submissions: visit our Submittable page
For media queries related to our books: contact Megan Fishmann
For permissions queries related to our books: visit our About Us page
THE CATAPULT TEAM
Elizabeth Koch, Co-founder & CEO
Alyson Forbes, Interim Publisher/COO
CATAPULT BOOKS
Dan Smetanka, Editorial Director, Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull
Kendall Storey, Editor in Chief
Alicia Kroell, Associate Editor
Laura Gonzalez, Editorial Assistant
Leigh Newman, Editor at Large
Julie Buntin, Editor at Large; Director Emeritus, Writing Programs
CATAPULT CLASSES
Colin Drohan, Director of Writing Programs
Amanda Fatemi-Badi, Writing Programs Manager - Outreach and Special Programs
Gabrielle Bellot, Head Instructor; Staff Contributing Editor, Magazine
Miyako Singer, Writing Programs Operations Coordinator
Jay Morales, Student Support Specialist
CATAPULT MAGAZINE & DON’T WRITE ALONE
Tajja Isen, Editor in Chief
Matt Ortile, Executive Editor
Stella Cabot Wilson, Associate Editor, Catapult and Don’t Write Alone
Allisen Hae Ji Lichtenstein, Assistant Editor, Catapult
Leah Johnson, Staff Contributing Editor, Catapult
Billy-Ray Belcourt, Poetry Editor
Eliza Harris, Editorial Assistant, Don’t Write Alone
MARKETING
Rachel Fershleiser, Associate Publisher and Executive Director of Marketing
Dustin Kurtz, Social Media Editor
Kira Weiner, Events Coordinator
Alyssa Lo, Marketing Assistant
PUBLICITY
Megan Fishmann, Vice President, Associate Publisher and Senior Director of Publicity
Sarah Jean Grimm, Assistant Director of Publicity
Lena Moses-Schmitt, Assistant Director of Publicity
Alisha Gorder, Publicity Manager
Selihah White, Publicist
SALES & OPERATIONS
Miriam Vance, Contracts & Rights Associate, Awards Coordinator
Katie Mantele, Sales Associate
DESIGN
Nicole Caputo, Creative Director
Lexi Earle, Designer
Dana Li, Designer
PRODUCTION
Wah-Ming Chang, VP, Corporate Culture, Senior Managing Editor
Olenka Burgess, Production Manager
Laura Berry, Production Editor
Tracy Danes, Production Assistant
