Te Hokowhitu a Tu on Radio Live this Anzac Day

The Bookman Graham Beattie will be talking to Mark Sainsbury about the new edition of Christopher Pugsley's Te Hokowhitu a Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War on Radio Live this Saturday, Anzac Day morning. 

http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/te-hokowhitu-tu-maori-battalion-in.html

You can also listen to Christopher Pugsley's brilliant account of the Gallipoli campaign in last week's interview on Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show here.

Historian Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Christopher Pugsley is also the author of Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story (also a Libro International book), a brilliant and moving account of this defining campaign of the First World War, told through the eyes of those who fought and died in the unsuccessful effort to seize the Dardanelles from Turkey.

Haere ra, Ray

Farewell today to Ray Richards, with the funeral at Devonport naval base for the legendary publisher, literary agent and World War II fighter pilot. Family, friends and colleagues remembered a man who gave much to publishing, writers and his many friends through an extraordinary life. 

Ray was a generous mentor and astute agent right to the end; we worked with him to publish the new Ross Calman edition of A.W. Reed's Favourite Māori Legends only last week - this was a title Ray had published first back in 1965! 

For more about Ray's contribution to NZ publishing, refer to Gavin McLean's history of Reed Publishing, Whare Raupo (Reed, 2007), and click through to Graeme Beattie's blog.