News Archive

We’re packing up the stand today. Time, of course, goes so fast. I arrived in Frankfurt a week ago and today the fair ends with the public surging in to the foreign halles but not so many in to ours.

Friday was a relatively quiet day on the stand for foot traffic but our exhibitors have been very pleased with the outcomes of the meetings held and contacts made. At least three deals have been signed off at the fair from our stand and there are many pending.About 150 guests came to our stand party on Friday from 5 -7pm. Halle 8 was still buzzing yesterday about the wonderful Hunters Sauvingnon Blanc and came back to the stand yesterday to say so too. This year we had representatives from many countries as well as the Buchmesse team.

And the publicity continues from the Canadian, Australian, NZ summit. The issue was taken up in the Guardian UK newspaper under the headline Commonwealth nations to fight UK and US publishers’ dominance. Expect to hear a lot more from this initiative and we are jointly planning the next steps to maintaining closer ties.

Final report from Frankfurt – more photos at a later date.

— Anne De Lautour, Executive Director, BPANZ

It’s Day 2 of the fair and the buzz is also all about us today! We’re in the news and the photo with the Canadian, Australia and NZ ambassadors is in today’s fair edition of The Bookseller with the headline Not Born Free. It says that the three countries have voted to pursue closer cooperation and, “free themselves from the proprietorial attitudes of the US and UK that continue to dominate the publishing world”. Phew! It isn’t easy to get down under content at Frankfurt but we have!

Our new stand is working well. Our new signage can be seen from the other end of our aisle which is quite a distance and the new layout flows well. Exhibitors have asked whether we have a larger space this year – we don’t but there is more room for visitors to browse without disturbing the meetings in progress. We have good walk-on traffic and the booths ensure privacy for meetings.

The mood of the fair is very much “business as usual” although perhaps quieter than usual for the first day yesterday. Today has more of a buzz of activity in the aisles! Our team reports good positive meetings and all are busy both on and off the stand maximising the opportunity to visit other halls and continue the networking which began at the Canadian Australian NZ Summit on Tuesday.

The Summit was certainly a success and I have met today with my equivalent from the Canadian Publishers Association to talk about reciprocal possibilities for publishers in each country. A report of the Summit will be available shortly also. Many thanks to both Kevin Chapman, Past President of BPANZ, and Teresa Garnett, Export Manager from Pearson Education NZ, for their significant contributions as panelists — I know the time they each spent preparing for the event and both gave addresses that were informed and engaging.

So tonight we celebrate with the Australians for their stand party and tomorrow is ours. This year looks bigger than ever and we look forward to sharing our shipment of Hunters wines with many thirsty guests — a great way to continue the networking in a relaxing and convivial atmosphere.

To quote one kiwi, “If I ever say I mightn’t bother with Frankfurt this year remind me that it’s essential. I’m picking up so much extra information and seeing opportunities just by being here.”

— Anne De Lautour, BPANZ Executive Director

Main View of the New Zealand stand at Frankfurt 2008 (below).

Anabel Langbein and Doris Mousdale on the New Zealand stand (below).

Publishers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand voted unanimously to pursue closer cooperation among the three English-language markets at a special Summit held in Frankfurt on the eve of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Taking on Hachette New Zealand and BPANZ Past President Kevin Chapman’s exhortation that, “we have to start taking each seriously and stop ignoring each other”, a panel discussed areas where there could be greater cooperation between Canadian, Australia and New Zealand publishers.

Ideas included forming consortia to bid for North American or British and Commonwealth rights for books in order to compete with British and American publishers; and working together to address the challenges presented by the digital future.

The Summit received detailed briefings on the three book markets, and some analysis on recent trends. In Canada, for instance, the supply chain is increasingly being integrated into the US supply chain, while in Australia bookshop returns rates have dropped significantly over the past few years as a result of publishers moving to firm-sale on backlist titles.

In New Zealand, on the other hand, the country’s adoption of an open market was described by Kevin Chapman as ‘like a cancer, an insidious thing’ that had worked against protection of the country’s culture.

It is expected that a follow-up will be held at the London Book Fair to build on the momentum generated by today’s Summit.

It was standing-room only at the Summit, which was organised by the Association for the Export of Canadian Books (AECB), the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the Book Publishers Association of New Zealand (BPANZ), and was attended by about 120 publishers. Its purpose was to share information about the three markets, and to identify and discuss the challenges they have in common.

Chief among these challenges is the dominance of the two largest English-language markets, the United Kingdom and United States.

“We are all struggling to free ourselves from the proprietorial attitudes of the US and UK that continue to dominate the publishing world,” noted Juliet Rogers, Immediate Past President of the APA. “The US views Canadian rights as an automatic extension of their territory, even though they frequently have no intention of responsibly exercising those rights. The UK fails to grasp that the Empire is dead and that Commonwealth markets are no longer theirs by right.”

Digitisation provided further opportunities for cooperative action. “The digital future presents an opportunity for us to get together,” said AECB Chair Philip Cercone, looking forward to an era of greater collaboration between the three markets. “There are more opportunities than we can imagine.”

Anne De Lautour, Executive Director of BPANZ (centre, rear) with fellow representatives of the Canada, Australia and New Zealand Summit at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2008

The Book Publishers Association of NZ (BPANZ) and the Australian Publishers Association (APA) have been invited by the Association for the Export of Canadian Books to participate in a half-day summit at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The Canada-Australia-New Zealand summit aims for publishers from the three countries to share ideas and to identify opportunities to work together. Topics to be considered include territorial rights, distribution, the ‘success stories’ of Australian writers’ festivals, and the Canadian model for funding publishing.

The summit will be moderated by Rob Sanders of Canada’s Greystone Books and speakers and panellists will include Kevin Chapman and Teresa Garnett from NZ; Juliet Rogers, Jane Palfreyman and Erica Wagner from Australia;  and Craig Riggs, Margie Wolfe and Scott McIntyre from Canada.

The summit will be held from 8.30am-12.30pm on Tuesday 14 October in the Esprit Room, Hall 9, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

For more information, contact BPANZ Association Director Anne de Lautour anne@bpanz.org.nz

Reports on several key European export markets of interest to New Zealand book publishers are now online on the BPANZ site and available for free download. The reports have been collated on behalf of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and will provide useful market intelligence as several of New Zealand’s leading book exporters prepare to stage another joint display at the Frankfurt Book Fair, 15-19 October 2008.

This year sees the introduction of a new stand design for the Kiwi contingent, designed by Wellington based Lesley Fowler with imagery created by Nick Clarkson. And it features a strong push to highlight our educational publishers who continue to be an integral part of the export success we’ve seen with New Zealand books.

Tuesday 9 September, 5.00pm

Grand Central 126 Ponsonby Road (near corner of MacKelvie St just past the Richmond Rd intersection)

We had fun last time so we’re having another – same bar, same format, new theme.

A Day in the Life of a Book Designer

This time we’ll take a look at the world of a book designer with Bob Ross chairing the team of talented panellists.

• Anna Egan-Reid from Pindar NZ
• Nick Turzynski from redinc. Book Design
• Gideon Keith from Seven

Invitation is open to all BPANZ members and the staff of member publishers.

A $10 cash charge is made for each event to cover costs and includes a first drink and nibbles.

Please circulate this notice widely and encourage newcomers to the industry to attend and we look forward to seeing you there.

The Best First Book awards for Non-fiction, Poetry, and Fiction were established by the New Zealand Society of Authors with the aim of encouraging new writers and their publishers. 

The NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction goes to The Blue by Mary McCallum (Penguin Group (NZ)

The Blue also wins this years Reader’s Choice Award section of the Montana Book Awards.

Montana judge Ms Freeman says this book is such an accomplished piece of writing that it has also earned a place in the Fiction category shortlist this year.

‘We only rarely find a first-time novelist who can write with such precision, maturity and real emotional insight.’

Jessica Le Bas wins the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry for her collection, Incognito (Auckland University Press).

‘Incognito is a book whose poems are sensitive to rhythm as well as the play of words, and letters, on the page. Le Bas is willing to employ a range of forms and acknowledged influences to match the wide-ranging interest of her subject matter, and to allow a range of voices to speak through her work,’ says Ms Freeman.

The NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction goes to The Great Sacred Forest of T?ne -­ Te Wao Tapu Nui a Tane: A Natural Pre-History of Aotearoa New Zealand by Alan Clarke (Reed Publishing).

‘This study of the historical uses of New Zealand’s native flora is the culmination, one suspects, of a life’s work and deserves the highest praise,’ says Ms Freeman.

Each NZSA Best First Book Awards category winner receives $2,500.

A short story collection written in Te Reo Maori made history this year by winning the inaugural Maori Language Prize at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Editors Piripi Walker and Huriana Raven were presented with the $5,000 prize for their book Te Tu a Te Toka: He Ieretanga no nga Tai e Wha. The judge of the award, Mr. Hone Apanui, says the winning book is ‘especially notable is the use of iwi vernacular, the keen observation and the turn of phrase, which rings clear and true in every piece of writing. How similar experiences can be told in a range of voices and appear fresh each time is remarkable.’

Charlotte Grimshaw has won the Montana Medal for fiction or poetry for her short story collection, Opportunity.

Grimshaw’s winning book is an absorbing series of stories delving into a diverse range of lives which are all interlinked.

She said, via her publisher Harriet Allan from Random House, that she was pleased Opportunity had done well.

‘It’s a book centred on New Zealand, and it’s all about our New Zealand stories. Each story is written in the first person, and part of the point of the book is to describe and convey the unique New Zealand voice.’

This year’s Montana New Zealand Book Awards judges, Lynn Freeman, David Elworthy and Tim Corballis said Opportunity was a clear winner for the breadth and ambition of its design, the layers of its meaning, and the multiplicity of reading experiences it affords.

‘By turns touching, funny, dark, and redemptive, this is a book for reading through then re-reading in a different order, for following clues, for setting aside and thinking about, and for getting lost in.’

Charlotte Grimshaw also took the BPANZ Reviewer of the Year Award at the ceremony.

Janet Hunt has won the 2008 Montana Medal for Non-fiction for a book that evokes both national celebration and sorrow; the story of our wetlands.

Wetlands of New Zealand – A Bitter-Sweet Story, written over many years and designed by the author herself, is a stunning and touching insight into these beautiful (and broken) eco-systems and their inhabitants.

Judges’ convenor, Lynn Freeman said while all the category winning titles exemplified excellence in their fields, their decision to name the overall Non-fiction winner was made in a heartbeat.

‘The very best Non-fiction is a delicate balance of facts and research, and a sense of the writer and their passion for their subject. When the story told also brings to our attention as a nation, something significant that has been overlooked, we really can’t ask for more.

‘Janet Hunt’s Wetlands of New Zealand has achieved all of these things, and many readers, we are sure, will feel galvanised to explore these revealed mysteries for themselves.’

The winners of the country’s most prestigious awards for contemporary writing were chosen from more than 220 books submitted.

The complete list of 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards winners is as follows:

Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry winner and Fiction category winner:

Opportunity by Charlotte Grimshaw (Random House)

Fiction runner-up: Edwin & Matilda by Laurence Fearnley (Penguin Group (NZ))

Poetry winner: Cold Snack by Janet Charman (Auckland University Press)

Montana Medal for Non-Fiction winner and Environment category winner:

Wetlands of New Zealand – A bitter-sweet story by Janet Hunt (Random House NZ)

Biography winner: The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor by Judy Siers (Millwood Heritage Productions Ltd)

History winner: Te Tau Ihu O Te Waka Volume II: Te Ara Hou – The New Society by Hilary and John Mitchell (Huia Publishers)

Reference and Anthology winner: A Nest of Singing Birds: 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal by Gregory O’Brien (Learning Media Ltd)

Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture winner: Mau Moko: The World of M?ori Tattoo by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku with Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and Rolinda Karapu (Penguin Group (NZ))

Illustrative winner: Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning by Jennifer Hay, with Ron Brownson, Chris Knox and Laurence Aberhart, designed by Aaron Beehre (Christchurch Art Gallery)

Each category winner was presented with a prize of $5,000. The winners of the Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry (formerly called the Deutz prize) and the Montana Medal for Non fiction were each presented with an additional prize of $10,000. The runner-up in the Fiction category received $2,500. The Readers’ Choice Award carries a monetary prize worth $1,000.