The Publishers Association of New Zealand condemns the ban on the sale and distribution of Ted Dawe’s Into the River.
As an Association we stand behind the right of Ted Dawe to assert his freedom of expression through his prize-winning words, the right of his publisher Penguin Random House to sell and distribute them, and especially the right of readers to access and enjoy his much-lauded novel.
PANZ President, Melanie Laville-Moore stated, “Into the River is a highly regarded piece of literature, charged with influencing and changing the lives of many of its teenage male readers. This is an unprecedented and extreme action by the Film and Literature Board of Review. Banning books is not the New Zealand way.”
The Association applauds the New Zealand writing, library and bookseller communities for standing firm on this most important of issues. PANZ calls for a review of current legislation and encourages others to request the same.
Ends
For media enquiries please contact PANZ Association Director Anne de Lautour
Email: anne@publishers.org.nz
Ph: +64 9 280 3212
Mob: +64 21 646 311
The 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be judged by 12 eminent academics, writers, journalist, commentators, former publishers and booksellers from around New Zealand; a three-fold increase on the number of judges in previous years which reflects the Awards’ new judging structure.
We have never had so much information and entertainment at our fingertips thanks to the Internet. So how do you get exposure for your books in the clutter of cyberspace? Easy – contact Nielsen Book!
The star book of the night was Mandy Hager’s Singing Home the Whale, which first won the Awards’ Young Adult Fiction category and later the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award. The story of young Will and an orca called Min which he befriends while rowing also addresses ecological concerns. “This novel should be compulsory reading in any country that still hunts whales. The alternating narrative by Will and Min is captivating and believable, as well as easy to read,” said judging convenor Bob Docherty.
Accepting the Gerard Reid Best Book award, Janson (left) told the awards audience “It is rewarding to be acknowledged.”
PANZ Young Designer of the Year was added to the awards six years ago. Judged between finalists Anna Egan-Reid, Carla Sy and Jessica Gommers the quality and breadth of design talent shown was outstanding over all three portfolios. For 2015 Carla Sy was announced the winner and received the unexpected prize of four days experience with the HarperCollins design studio in Sydney.
Pirates, orcas and penguins leap from the pages of the 22 books picked as finalists in the 2015 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
José Borghino, Will Atkinson and Henry Rosenbloom brought their European, UK and Australian perspectives to the PANZ summit and left their audience, of more than 65 publish with a wider understanding of those markets and current trends in books and publishing. It was a cracker of a conference, challenging, thought provoking and a chance to see opportunities as well as pitfalls in the world marketplace
José Borghino, policy director for the International Publishers Association based in Geneva, did have a cautionary tale of government educational policy interference… Hungary nationalised the whole of their educational publishing and only one publisher in the field remains.
Crime writer Paul Cleave () is not highly feted in his own country for his noir thrillers, but he is a huge hit on the German market. His editors in Germany loved his books and pushed for wide exposure – with the result that some titles have sold at one to two thousand copies a day in that country!
Peter Dowling chaired the trade publisher panel of Will Atkinson, Atlantic Books UK, Julia Marshall of Gecko Press, Kevin Chapman of Upstart Books and Dreamboat Books’ Mark Sommerset .
Coping with Auckland traffic and the 8am start did not put 16 educational publishers and others – including José Borghino from the International Publishers Association – attending the networking breakfast chaired by PANZ Councillor Mark Sayes.
Will Atkinson drew mostly on his experience as Sales and Marketing Director of Faber UK for this session on consumer engagement in the digital world.
Noeline Anderson of Pixelhouse was the worst affected and we only got visual flashes of some of her presentation. Her concepts of effective visual strategy include art aesthetics, energy, and use of space. She noted the importance of the collaboration between teacher and the technical collaborator: one should not dominate the other, it should be an equal partnership to get the best results.
Henry Rosenbloom was once ‘a gentleman publisher in the country’ – his description – outside of Melbourne. That followed his involvement in the family printing firm which he steered in the direction of book production, but meant he only had time to publish one book a year. So it was back to Melbourne to set up Scribe Publications in 1996.
PANZ would like to extend its thanks to Creative New Zealand for supporting Will Atkinson and Henry Rosenbloom to attend the PANZ International Summit through the Te Manu Ka Tau / Flying Friends international visitors programme.
José Borghino was appointed to the newly created position of IPA Policy Director in March 2013. His current responsibilities include policy development, organizing the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Prize, managing the IPA’s activities in the Educational Publishing sector, overseeing the ‘What Works?’ conference and administering the Educational Publishers Forum. José came to the IPA from the Australian Publishers Association (APA), where, as Manager of Industry Representation, he was in charge of policy development, public affairs and government lobbying. His previous professional roles include being executive director of the Australian Society of Authors, lecturer in journalism and creative industries at the University of Sydney, editor of the online news magazine NewMatilda.com, and senior positions at the Literature Board of the Australia Council. He was the founding editor of EDITIONS Review.