Oratia Media Celebrates 20 Years Today

Today marks 20 years since Peter Dowling and Alessandra Zecchini incorporated Oratia Media as a company.

Still going strong two decades on, our small company has changed and grown, while remaining grounded in the ngahere (forest) near the upper end of West Coast Road, Oratia, in the mighty Waitakere Ranges west of Auckland. 

Above all today offers the chance to thank our many clients, readers, collaborators, staff, contractors, family and supporters.  

The original logo: image designed by Alessandra, text by Myong-ok Kim

While publishing has been a core part of what we’ve always done, we chose the name ‘Media’ to reflect our pursuit of different activities (it also sounded good alongside ‘Oratia’!).

At establishment, that involved Alessandra teaching language and culture at the Dante Alighieri Italian Society of Auckland, running cooking classes and contributing food and travel articles to publications in New Zealand, Italy and Japan. 

Food styling with models Patricia Greig and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling (top) and photographer Shaun Cato-Symonds (bottom left)

Peter was then editor-at-large for Tokyo publisher Kozo System, editor and correspondent for Reed Business Information of London, and senior editor on contact to Reed Publishing (NZ) in Birkenhead. 

In 2002 Peter joined Reed NZ full-time as managing editor, later becoming publishing manager until the company’s sale in late 2007.

Over that time Alessandra ramped up her recipe development and food-styling activities, became a regular contributor to magazines including Cuisine, NZ House and Garden and NZ Gardener, launched her first two cookbooks with New Holland Publishers, and created the Festival Italiano through the Dante Society.

Alessandra at the Festival Italiano 2018, received the Ordine della Stella D'Italian honour from Italian Ambassador Fabrizio Marcelli for her services to promoting Italian culture internationally

From 2008 we have worked exclusively through Oratia, with 2009 marking the launch of the company’s own book list, initially under the Libro International brand and since 2016 as Oratia Books. Over that time we’ve published close on 150 books (both our own and for others), while writing and editing several million words in articles, books and reports around the world. 

Our first major commissioned book, the late Graeme Hunt's history of St John in New Zealand, 2009

None of this would have been possible without our clients (for details see https://www.oratia.co.nz/services/), or talented authors and illustrators (thank you to everyone listed at https://www.oratia.co.nz/authors/). Then there are the brilliant booksellers, librarians and teachers who support us, and our fine team of regular and freelance professionals. 

Among the ‘Oratia family’ our heartfelt thanks to Editorial Director Carolyn Lagahetau, who has been a key player since 2008, and to Marketing Consultant Belinda Cooke for her exceptional contribution since 2015.

Taking life seriously with our dream team, from left: designer Cheryl Smith, marketing supremo Belinda Cooke, illustrator Ross Kinnaird, editorial director Carolyn Lagahetau, author Dawn McMillan and Peter

Without wishing to omit anyone, special appreciation to designer Cheryl Smith of Macarn Design and more recently Sarah Elworthy; former marketing manager Isabell Zitzelsberger; editors Mike Bradstock, Susan Brierley, Frances Chan and Patricia Greig; sales reps Jeremy Bliss, Peter Gray, Dennis Morgan and Gary Shannon; Marie Edwards, Toni Hayman, Sue Kellett and team at our distributors Publishers Distribution Ltd; and web designers Isra Salcedo (Humilde Servidor) and Daisuke Hirata (Box Media). 

Carolyn Lagahetau with the late Graeme Leather

And we remember those who are no longer with us: the beloved designer and editor Graeme Leather, sales supremo Paul Greenberg, and authors Trixie Harvey, Graeme Hunt, Gavin McLean, Don Stafford and Pā Henare Tate.

The late Pā Henare Tate (right) with Sister Magdalen Sheahan (centre) receiving the Māori Book Award for his He Puna Iti i te Ao Mārama in 2013

Author Malcolm Paterson with son Davin at the Going West Writers Festival 2016

Student volunteer Coline Rouge promoting our books at the IBBY World Congress in Auckland, 2016

Internationally we count on some fine distributors: thanks to Charles Goulding at John Reed Books (Australia), Joel Cosseboom and Royden Muranaka at University of Hawai’i Press (North America) and Melanie Warren and team at Gazelle Book Services in Lancaster (UK and Europe). Chris Shaw and the crew at Book Systems International get the books from our printers and out to book fairs.

Sub-agents like Fanny Yu at CA-Link in Beijing, Anna Spadolini and her agency in Milan, and Pablo de la Vega at Base Tres in Guadalajara help us reach many markets. 

Peter managing the first-ever New Zealand stand at the Guadalajara International Book Fair, 2017, with assistant Claudia Esqueda

Voluntary and community activities are an important part of Oratia’s culture, with long-standing commitments to the Dante Society, Slowfood Auckland, Te Potiki National Trust (Māori Maps), Oratia District School, Storylines Children’s Literature Foundation and the Publishers Association of New Zealand. 

Paora Tapsell, chair of Te Potiki National Trust, presenting the trust's annual Hawea Vercoe Memorial Scholarship to Ihaka Wilson at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Rotoiti, September 2019

And to mark the 20^th anniversary, we’ve just agreed new, ongoing sponsorships of the Native Forest Restoration Trust and Outward Bound NZ.

It’s a privilege to be here still after two decades doing the work we love from a place we love. Ngā manaakitanga ki a koutou kātoa i tautoko I a Oratia i ēnei tau i mua, ā, ka mahi ngatahi tonu ā muri ake nei. Grazie e arrivederci al 2040!

Oratia Books Catalogue 2020 showcases 12 new titles

The Oratia Books Catalogue 2020 is out now in digital form. 

The catalogue presents the 12 new titles we will publish in this, the 20th year in business for Oratia Media. 

Because of restrictions in place during the present Covid-19 lockdown, sales and distribution of books are on hold and some of our planned release dates have shifted. 

We will wait to print the catalogue until the schedule is confirmed, and when we're actually allowed to print again!

But rest assured we will see all these books to publication, and continue to expand our overall list both in print and digitally this year and beyond. 

The catalogue introduction follows; click here to view the whole thing.

The year 2020 sees another milestone for Oratia Media — August marks 20 years since we set up the company to supply publishing and media services internationally. The nikau palm logo that our media director Alessandra Zecchini designed back in 2000 is reflected in the cover photo, taken outside our office in leafy Oratia.

Twenty years on, we’re still proudly assisting organisations and individuals to publish their books, while developing the list that we launched in 2009. This year will bring 12 additions to Oratia Books, along with renovation of our growing backlist.

Responding to the welcome upsurge in Māori-language learning, 2020 kicks off with David Kārena-Holmes’ handy guide, Te Reo Māori: The Basics Explained. Bilingual editions of 12 Huia Birds/12 Manu Huia, Tim Tipene’s newest ‘modern myth’ in Rona Moon, and Dawn McMillan’s charming There’s a Weta on My Sweater offer plenty of language enrichment for younger readers.

Also for the kids is the rollicking yarn The Longdrop (familiar to anyone who’s had a Kiwi family holiday), a stunning take on the universe in Space Maps, and a delightful new character from bestselling duo Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird in Sir Singlet. For slightly older readers there’s the third in The NZ Series: Rush to Riches is a lively illustrated account of the colonial rushes for kauri and gold.

Our adult non-fiction is strongly told and illustrated, ranging from the nostalgic photo-led Life with Cars to the classic paintings of women bearing chin and lip tattoos in Te Kuia Moko. Ron Crosby has condensed his seminal The Musket Wars into a brilliant new history, while Matthew Wright gets to the heart of a New Zealand legend in Freyberg.

Publishing has changed a lot over the past 20 years, yet today books remain as vital as ever to our understanding of the world around us. Read on to discover more about books from Oratia.

Taking pride in our publishing services

While it is Oratia's successful trade publishing programme that has built the company's profile and reputation in recent years, custom publishing and communications services have always been at the core of its business. 

Peter Dowling and Alessandra Zecchini founded Oratia Media in August 2000 to help organisations and individuals create the best possible books and communications. 

From a small base of clients in Japan, Europe and New Zealand, the company has expanded over almost 20 years to provide companies and authors around the world with a wide range of services. 

Recent book projects undertaken for public policy advocate Owen Gill and Archetype Book Agents 

Book projects have spanned full-colour, hardback company histories to short-run, black & white paperbacks for self-publishing authors.

Books for individuals, charitable societies, clubs and companies

We now advise widely on best options for production and marketing domestically and internationally, drawing on our decades of collective experience in the book business. 

That includes representing books from other publishers and authors at international book fairs, brokering the best print or digital options, and advising on rights and distribution. 

Our own and clients' books at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019

Annual reports, magazine supplements and articles, special editions and media planning form a further arm of the Oratia Media portfolio.

Having a multicultural staff and network of contributors enables work across cultures in a range of languages, with particular demand for Māori, Italian and Spanish work.

An English-Spanish supplement produced by Oratia in 2016

As a small team we work closely and collaboratively to create the optimal outcome for our partners, making the often complex business of publishing easy to manage. 

So while it is the Oratia Books list that is more visible these days, it is services work that underpins our business. 

Oratia provided all editorial services for The Tindall Foundation's Annual Report in recent year, including 2018/19 (pictured above)

Indeed, we are just as proud of products finished to the requirements of clients as we are of our own books. 

Please get in touch with Peter (peter@oratia.co.nz, 027 614 8993) to find out how we can help you achieve your publishing and communication goals.

Here's what Owen Gill, author of Turning Point Auckland (published February 2019) had to say about working with us:

"Peter Dowling and the team at Oratia made what could have been a dry policy book into a creative tour de force, mostly by bringing outstanding design and editing to the book. The book was published on-budget and on-time, and to a good reception in the media, which was also arranged by Oratia. I strongly recommend Peter and Oratia for private publishing projects like mine."