Media Releases

Open hearts, Open minds, Open books
發現紐西蘭 樂讀新世界
Ngākau aotea, Ngākau māhorahora, Pukapuka wherawhera.

New Zealand is to be the Guest of Honour at the 2015 Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE 15), and is taking advantage of the opportunity to promote the country in as many ways as possible. The Guest of Honour Programme, managed by the Publishers Association of New Zealand, will have a Visiting Author programme, a Cultural Programme, a substantial publisher presence (both trade and educational publishers selling rights to NZ material) and other yet-to-be announced elements.

The initial selection for the Visiting Author Programme for TIBE 2015 (which is held in February) is highlighted by Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton and Dame Joy Cowley. Joining them are Gavin Bishop, Jenny Bornholdt, Paul Cleave, Joan Druett, Witi Ihimaera, Heather McAllister, Mark Sommerset, Judith White and Sarah Wilkins. Other writers and/or illustrators will be added to the programme. The programme is funded by Creative New Zealand and is in partnership with the Taipei Book Fair Foundation.

The criteria for the initial invitation is that an author must have a book available in the Taiwanese market at the time of TIBE 2015 and a Taiwanese publisher must support the author’s visit with co-operative events. The authors will be involved in a series events at the NZ Pavilion in the fair exhibition hall and in other venues in conjunction with their Taiwanese publishers.

The Cultural Programme is headed by the popular Te Puia kapa haka group from Te Puia in Rotorua. They will perform daily at the TIBE and other venues, while a traditional Māori carver, with help from members of the group, will carve from a large log of Taiwanese wood.

Kevin Chapman, Project Director for NZ Guest of Honour says: “The Visiting Author Programme and the Cultural Programme are the cornerstone of the Guest of Honour project. We are pleased to have such a diverse group of successful and talented authors and performers to showcase New Zealand at TIBE 2015.”

Paoping Huang, Director of TBFF says: “We look forward to welcoming the New Zealand writers, illustrators and performers to TIBE 2015.  The Visiting Author Programme will introduce new writers to Taiwanese readers, and welcome back some old friends.”

TIBE opens on Wednesday 11 February 2015 and closes on Monday 16 February. TIBE 2014 attracted almost half a million visitors and 648 publisher exhibitors from around the world. TBFF will offer free entry for students for the 2015 event.

The Guest of Honour Programme at TIBE 2015 is supported by Creative NZ, Education NZ, The Publishers Association of NZ, NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the NZ Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The Author Programme is overseen by a Reference Group that includes representatives of funding agencies, the NZ Society of Authors, and other specialist advisors.

For more information contact Karen McKenzie, kmacPR
karen_m@xtra.co.nz,  027 693 9044

A new charitable trust has been formed to govern the prestigious New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Major changes to the timing and to refresh the format of the awards are also underway.

Announcing the formation of the New Zealand Book Awards Trust, chairperson Nicola Legat said the new legal structure would, amongst other things, allow more flexibility to apply for grants and patronage.  New Zealand Post Group, which sponsored the Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for 18 years and the New Zealand Book Awards for five years, has withdrawn from its high profile sponsorship and the search for new sponsors is well underway. We thank them for their great support over the years.

The New Zealand Book Awards Trust is comprised of members from the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ), the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) and Booksellers New Zealand (BSNZ).  Each is represented on the board by one member, with scope for the appointment of non-trade board members.

Nicola Legat, Chairperson, New Zealand Book Awards Trust

The trustees are Sam Elworthy, President of PANZ, representing PANZ; Kyle Mewburn, President of the NZSA, representing the NZSA; and Stella Chrysostomou, Manager of Page and Blackmore Booksellers, representing BSNZ.

Independent members are Karen Ferns, former joint Managing Director of Random House Australia and New Zealand; businesswoman Sue Wood; and well-known publisher and journalist, Nicola Legat.

The timing of both Awards will change. The 2015 Book Awards for Children and Young Adults will be held in August. This will make way for the New Zealand Book Awards to be held in Auckland as part of the Auckland Writers Festival in May 2016.

The trust board sees the partnership with the Auckland Writers Festival as a great opportunity for New Zealand writers – putting them where there is a huge audience of committed readers.

For its part, “The Auckland Writers Festival is thrilled that the Book Awards Trust wishes to bring these prestigious awards into the festival programme,” said the Festival’s director Anne O’Brien. “It is a marquee event in New Zealand’s literary calendar, and partnering with the Trust fits perfectly with our aspiration of supporting and showcasing New Zealand writers and their work. Being able to have the winners as part of the programme over the Festival weekend means that these fine writers are being placed where readers are, and can take advantage of the Festival’s considerable – and growing – audience.”

Submissions for the 2015 Book Awards for Children and Young Adults will open on 3 November for books published between January 2014 and 31 March 2015.

One of the first tasks of the new trust board will be to appoint judges for the 2015 Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Expressions of interest in being on the judging panel can be sent to awards@bookawardstrust.org.nz. You will find the digital form to apply on our website, www.bookawardstrust.org.nz.

Due to the timing change for the New Zealand Book Awards to May 2016, the period for submissions for these awards will be extended to include books published from June 2014 and until 31 December 2015.

Chairperson Nicola Legat says, “To try to hold the awards next May, with only six months’ of books that would be eligible, was thought to be unfair to publishers and authors.

“We have made these changes as the result of a period of deep discussion and consultation, and that consultation will continue on for a while yet.

“As well as changing the dates, other adjustments will be made to both sets of awards to make them relevant and fresh while retaining their inherent mana. Those further changes will be announced in the coming weeks.

“It’s an exciting and positive time for these awards and what is absolutely clear is how critically important they are as a way of rewarding excellence in New Zealand writing, and of encouraging New Zealanders to read New Zealand books.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Nicola Legat, Chairperson, New Zealand Book Awards Trust

Telephone  09 918 5722
Mobile 021 958 887
Email nlegat@randomhouse.co.nz

10 July, 2014

The Economic contribution of the New Zealand publishing industry study by PwC released today is the first to measure the size and scope of publisher activities.

“As publishers know but statisticians often don’t, book industry revenue flows through many channels—export, libraries, etailers, schools, bookstores here and overseas, rights sales, co-editions and more,” says Sam Elworthy, Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) President.

“To get a solid sense of our industry requires some work and we’re thrilled to have the report. As publishers, it enables us to talk to government as an industry with real heft—employing people and producing GDP.” The survey shows publishing is an industry with total sales of $300 million, directly employing nearly 3,000 people in various roles.

The analysis used 2012 data, but Elworthy notes it covered just the start of the explosion of ebook sales in New Zealand so future growth will be noted in following surveys. “Educational publishing data was also captured more effectively than previous surveys. We expect continued growth there, and in export in particular.”

Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) commissioned the publishing survey alongside surveys of the same data for other creative sector activities including film, television and music.

“The critical objective from CLNZ’s perspective was to get comprehensive data as a starting point to be able to quantify the scale of the book publishing and other sectors,” says CLNZ ceo Paula Browning. “We need to be able to measure growth and to know where the disruption that is impacting the sectors is affecting us – both the good and the bad!”

Browning says the surveys will be repeated in 2015 with the support of CLNZ’s Cultural Fund.

Download the Final Report.

PwC Final Report – Economic Contribution of New Zealand Publishing Industry

Contact:

Sam Elworthy, President PANZ

P: 64-9-923-2799

M: 64-22-680-7342

s.elworthy@auckland.ac.nz

30 April 2014 Auckland: Penguin Random House today announced a new leadership structure in New Zealand with Margaret Thompson appointed to the newly created position of Managing Director, Penguin Random House New Zealand.

Gabrielle Coyne, Chief Executive Officer Penguin Random House Asia Pacific, said, “I am delighted Margaret has accepted this important new role. Along with her wide ranging experience, Margaret brings a strong mix of publishing acumen, matched with an unwavering sales optimism and flair.”

Margaret Thompson’s career in publishing spans more than 30 years across Australia and New Zealand. She has been Managing Director of Penguin New Zealand since 2005. In 2007 Margaret steered the acquisition of Reed Publishing and in 2009 led Penguin’s acquisition of Mallinson Rendell Publishing; the originating publisher of Lynley Dodd, author of the global bestselling Hairy Maclary books, which have now sold over 9 million copies worldwide.

Margaret Thompson said, “I am delighted to accept this position and look forward to leading the Penguin Random House team to create an exciting new company which will continue to be committed to local publishing, supportive of our authors and booksellers and focused on maintaining a vibrant and creative presence in New Zealand.”

With Margaret’s appointment, Karen Ferns Joint Managing Director of Random House Australia and New Zealand will sadly leave the company on 16 May.

Karen has made an invaluable contribution to Random House growing the sales and company over many years. Highly respected within the publishing industry, Karen has been a passionate advocate for New Zealand and New Zealand publishing. She joined Random House New Zealand as Sales and Marketing Director in 1999 and was appointed Managing Director in 2008. In 2012 she was appointed Joint Managing Director of Random House Australia and New Zealand.

-ENDS-

Media Enquiries

Camilla Subeathar

Corporate Communications Manager

Penguin Random House Asia Pacific

Ph + 613 9811 2542, email:csubeathar@penguinrandomhouse.com.au

Notes to Editors

Penguin Random House (http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s first truly global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India, Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and South Africa; DK worldwide; and Random House’s companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.

 
While Fergus’ current high profile is as the publisher of Booker Prize winning novel The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, he has had a distinguished career, and has championed many fledgling New Zealand authors who have gone on to receive international recognition.
 
“For a good many years, Fergus has been one of this country’s great literary explorers—hunting for new voices, new talents, new ideas and taking them to the world,” says Publishers Association of New Zealand president Sam Elworthy. “He and the Victoria University Press team have brought to readers a treasure trove of great New Zealand scholarship and literature. Fergus’s work is an outstanding example of the work that publishers do connecting authors to readers, New Zealanders to the world. The Publishers Association congratulates Fergus on his well-deserved recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.”
 
Also made a recipient of the MNZM is children’s literature specialist, and author of theLittle Yellow Digger series of children’s picture books, Betty Gilderdale.
 
Recently retired booksellers Beatrice Parsons and Julian Parsons of iconic Wellington bookstore Parsons Books and Music both received the Queen’s Service Medal for services to business and the arts.