Book giveaway: Favourite Māori Legends (2013)

Alexander Wyclif (A.W.) Reed became New Zealand’s most prolific author and publisher in the course of the twentieth century. His works on Māori and Aboriginal culture and language remain in print 40 years after his death, with his retellings of myths and legends among his most sought-after books. 

A.W. Reed

So when we discovered this collection was out of print, we agreed with Reed’s long-time colleague and literary agent Ray Richards to publish a newly designed paperback. Editor Ross Calman (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa, Kāi Tahu) carefully revised the stories, and we reproduced the lovely original illustrations by Roger Hart.

Ray sadly passed away the month before the new Favourite Māori Legends was publsihed, but his assurance that the book would serve a new readership was spot on. The book has reprinted several times and has attracted international interest, with an edition in Spanish (Ediciones Sigueme, Salamanca) and other languages in negotiation.

Visit our Fb Page  to be in to win a copy of Favourite Māori Legends! Prize available to New Zealand residents only. 

Competition closes on Monday 1 July, and winner announced on Tuesday 2 July.

Bob Harvey's monumental Sea Edge is published today

A deluxe hardback with stunning art and photos, and dazzling text, Sea Edge: Where the Waitematā Meets Auckland is the culmination of  years of intensive research into the history and photo archives of Auckland’s magnificent Waitematā Harbour by author and civic leader Sir Bob Harvey. 

As Bob portrays in Sea Edge, Auckland is a glorious maritime city of character and charm. What happens at the sea edge — the beaches and ports and fringes of the Waitematā Harbour — defines the city’s past and present. 

Since the first Polynesian voyagers made landfall in their double-hulled sailing canoes, new arrivals have continually rediscovered and redefined the harbour and Hauraki Gulf beyond. Waitematā, ‘sparkling waters’, originated as a name from a rock off Kauri Point. 

Settlers from Britain and other parts of Europe navigated into the Waitematā to create the ‘City of Sails’.

Sea Edge: Where the Waitematā Meets Auckland is a collection of old and new stories, vignettes of the past and visions of the future, accompanied by many unpublished photographs and illustrations. 

The power of the narrative is the transformation of the Auckland Waterfront across history — including the enormous task of reclamation, building the port, and developing commerce and culture. 

Sea Edge is organised into four parts: 

·      The Beginning: from Māori on the Waitematā and Governor Hobson through to Shed 10, the Auckland Ferry Building and Henry Winkelmann

·      The Inner Harbour: America’s Cup and yachting heroes, Sanfords and fishing, on to today’s developments including the new Park Hyatt and GridAKL

·      The Working Waterfront: work including scows, the Devonport Naval Base, the Great White Fleet, waterfront strikes, SkyPath and Wynyard Point

-->  The Future of the Waitematā: plans and dreams for a sustainable waterfront. 

Sir Bob Harvey has drawn on his lifetime’s connection to the harbour and his civic leadership in planning its future, and dedicated recent years to researching the stories of the Sea Edge. It tells an inspiring story.

‘This book takes you on Auckland’s journey of growth and discovery that started at our foreshore. It honours those who came, lived and worked on the sea edge and I hope you enjoy it as I have.’

—Mayor Phil Goff, from his Foreword 

Sir Bob Harvey was born and brought up close to Auckland’s waterfront, and has made the city and the sea a big part of his life. He served as Mayor of Waitakere City from 1992 to 2010 and later as Chair of Waterfront Auckland. Bob is the author of numerous books including the bestselling Untamed Coast. He was knighted in 2013 for services to local body affairs and the community.

Publication: 19 June 2019  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-48-3|  RRP $75

Jacketed hardback, 300 x 300 mm, 260 pages colour

Book giveaway: New Zealand Tattoo (2012)

New Zealand Tattoo was one of Oratia’s first really big books, launched in October 2012 at Real Groovy in Auckland and showcased at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where New Zealand was guest of honour that year.

With photographer Chris Hoult we conceived of a book that, like many works in the field, showcased tattoo design — but unlike most, looked at it from the tattooists’ perspective. Chris joined journalist Steve Forbes to interview and photograph tattoo artists in their studios, creating an extended photo essay about the art as it was in late 2011/early 2012.

With its large (330 x 250 mm) hardback format and rich colour reproduction, New Zealand Tattoo — in the home of the tattooist’s art gave air to the works and words of tattooists representing the three main strands of ta moko (Māori tattoo), tatau (Pasifika tattoo) and European traditions. Steve contributed a concise history of the art form as well. The book has stood the test of the intervening years and remains a collectors’ item for followers of tattoo here and overseas. 

To be in to win a copy of New Zealand Tattoo go to our Fb Page 

Prize available to New Zealand residents only. 

Competition closes on Monday 24 June, and winner announced on Tuesday 25 June.

Special book giveaway! To the Gateways of Florence: New Zealand Forces in Tuscany, 1944 (2011)

Italy is in the blood at Oratia. Our media director Alessandra Zecchini is Italian and we volunteer and work closely with the Dante Alighieri Society in Auckland. The name for our first book imprint, Libro International, derived from the Italian word for book.  

So after Florence city councillor Stefano Fusi and his Kiwi wife Jill Gabriel hosted Alessandra, Peter and kids at Liberation Day commemorations in Tuscany in 2010 (on 25 April, the same day as Anzac Day), we knew we must publish an English edition of their fine book about how New Zealand troops helped liberate this part of Italy from German occupation during the Second World War.

To the Gateways of Florence: New Zealand Forces in Tuscany, 1944 follows the structure and layout of the original book I Giorni della Liberazione, first published by Editore NTE, edited by Stefano and translated by Jill. It collects writing by Italian and New Zealand historians, the latter represented by Christopher Pugsley, Monty Soutar and Jeffrey Plowman.

 Stefano, Jill and family visited New Zealand along with regional mayor Sestilio Dirindelli and his wife in September 2011. Together we launched the book in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland at some memorable gatherings of old soldiers, the Italian community and supporters.

We’re down to some of the last copies of this book, so get in now to secure yours.

Enter on our Fb Page to be in to win a copy of To the Gateways of Florence. Prize available to New Zealand residents only. 

Competition closes on Monday 17 June, and winner announced on Tuesday 18 June.

Win a copy of Te Ara — Māori Pathways: Past, Present, Future (2010)

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Te Ara started life as accompanying an exhibition of photographs and taonga relating to Māori leadership in the past, present and future, curated by academic and museum director Paul Tapsell with distinguished photographer Krzysztof Pfeiffer. 

This colourful paperback has gone on to become a valued reference to contemporary Māori issues, appearing in three editions — all with English and Māori text, and then variously Polish, German and Musqueam (the First Nations language from the Vancouver area), reflecting some locations where the exhibition travelled.

See: https://www.oratia.co.nz/product/te-ara

The book developed alongside Oratia’s ongoing partnership with Paul and Krzysztof in the charitable venture Māori Maps (www.maorimaps.com), which seeks to help descendants connect with their ancestral marae. 

Later this year we’ll also be publishing Paul’s next book, written with Merata Kawharu — Whāriki: The re-emergence of Māori kin community entrepreneurship.

To be in to win a copy of Te Ara — Māori Pathways: Past, Present, Future, go to our Fb Page. 

Prize available to New Zealand residents only.

Competition closes on Monday 10 June, and winner announced on Tuesday 11 June.