Celebrating 10 years of books from Oratia

It was in May 2009 that Oratia Media launched the first book under its Libro International imprint — a new edition of Tim Tipene’s junior novel Kura Toa: Warrior School. 

Ten years on, Kura Toa remains in print, like almost all the 80 books Oratia has now published. In 2016, the imprint name changed to Oratia Books, better to reflect our roots in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges.

Founded in 2000 by Peter Dowling and Alessandra Zecchini, Oratia was primarily a publishing services company with global clients including Reed Publishing NZ, where Peter had become publishing manager.

‘After Reed was taken over in 2007, editorial director Carolyn Lagahetau and I continued our relationship with Reed authors, many of whom were ready to work with an independent publisher,’ Peter recalled. 

            The first four books from 2009

‘In 2009 we tested the waters with short runs of Tim’s novel and Jeff Evan’s Nga Waka o Nehera, then jumped right in with two big new books in Outrageous Fortune and The Iron-Bound Coast.’

All four books in that first year were from a West Auckland stable, and the link to Waitakere creativity remains strong — as does a commitment to market the books worldwide through distribution, rights sales and presence at international book fairs.

Children’s books, Māoritanga and local non-fiction (especially history) form the majority of the books published to date, and Oratia Media continues to offer publishing and management services.

Oratia's 2019 catalogue; click here to view

‘In 2019 Oratia will publish 11 new books, from large pictorial hardbacks to a new non-fiction series for young adults,’ said Belinda Cooke, who joined Oratia part-time as sales & marketing consultant in 2016.

The Oratia team (pictured from left Alessandra, Belinda, Carolyn and Peter) join with their friends from the past decade to celebrate this milestone and look forward to a solid future in publishing.

Mister Spears reviewed and Radio NZ interview scheduled

Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird's Mister Spears and his Hairy Ears got a great review in yesterday's New Zealand Herald:

Upcoming: mark the date for Dawn's interview with Kathryn Ryan on Radio New Zealand National's Nine to Noon show, Tuesday 9 February at 11.20 am.

Voices from the Surf launches this Sunday

Voices from the Surf

80 Years of the Karekare Surf Lifesaving Club, 1935–2015

Edited by Sir Bob Harvey

Landmark book & DVD to be launched on Sunday

Surf lifesavers have been patrolling the dangerous waters of Karekare beach for 80 years, saving over 2000 people from death by drowning in that time.

Their contribution is now commemorated in a major book and DVD, which will be launched this Sunday 13 December at Karekare, and goes on public sale on Tuesday 15^th.  

Voices from the Surf collects stories from generations of lifeguards – tales of brave rescues, competition success, club camaraderie, and reflections on Karekare’s spiritual landscape.

Honorary patron and lifelong club member Sir Bob Harvey, who edited the work, commented: “This book tells real stories about times when seconds count and volunteer lifeguards will do everything to save a life.

“These are ordinary New Zealanders who for 80 thrill-packed and often dangerous years have made the difference between life and death. It’s an extraordinary tale!”

Plentiful colour photographs and memorabilia illustrate the well-written accounts in this large-format book, with oral histories and film records on the accompanying DVD.

Sir Bob Harvey, the former Mayor of Waitakere City, is the the author and editor of numerous books including the Untamed Coast, Rolling Thunder: The Spirit of Karekare, and the history of New Zealand Surf Lifesaving, Between the Flags. He received a knighthood in 2013.

Oratia Media, publisher of Libro International books, is publishing Voices from the Surf for the Lifesaving Club.

In bookstores: 15 December 2015  |  ISBN: 978-0-473-33052-1  |  RRP $49.99

Paperback with DVD, 260 x 305 mm, 208 pages (120 pages colour)

Newsworthy in Brazil

Erivan Gomes, director of Brazil's Cortez Editora, has sent through this item from the Estado do São Paulo newspaper talking about Brazilian publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Apparently the journalist was there at the time of my meeting with Erivan on 14 October to discuss rights exchanges for children's books - so I get a mention in the last paragraph marked as the 'editor da Nova Zelândia'. Nice!

The article reflects that despite international interest in Brazilians, there's a lack of translations. Unfortunately translation support from the Brazilian government has been patchy for many overseas publishers - we didn't get any backing for our 2014 edition of Snowy the Doganaut.

But we'll keep talking with Erivan and Cortez, who are producing some beautiful books.

Peter Dowling, Publisher

Frankfurt Book Fair 2015: Getting together and getting better

Smaller and better: that's my feeling after four days at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair, the major event on the world publishing calendar.

The Frankfurter Buchmesse organisers condensed the layout of the fair this year, bringing English-language publishers from the distant and cavernous Hall 8 to reside across three levels in Hall 6. With the New Zealand stand well positioned on the ground floor, it was a lot easier to connect for meetings in the other halls and to feel part of this great global village of books.

Compliments again to Anne de Lautour and the Publishers Association of New Zealand for the very cool and visible design of the collective stand on which Oratia Media took its place alongside 14 other Kiwi publishers – and to our stand staff Christiane Arheilger and Heike Reifgens. There’s a supportive spirit of collegiality and fun all week (rated as the week’s best by many fair regulars).

With PANZ Director Anne de Lautour on the NZ stand

Meetings here are conducted at half-hour intervals, which on the busiest days this year meant over 15 official encounters with publishers, agents, distributors and service providers at our stands and theirs – before dinners and gatherings into the night. Along with reviewing current business relationships, presenting new books, seeking rights deals and pitching new series and book ideas, I started communicating our soon-to-be-public rebranding and development plans.

At the New Zealand party: Michael Duckworth (University of Hawaii Press) and Scott Beatty (Trajectory)

Smaller and better also describes how the book industry is looking now. Sure, bookstores have closed, publishers have pulled out of some markets and tightened their lists, and ebooks have generally not delivered on their promise. But a leaner publishing industry has got smarter and is seeing a consumer move back to print, and for independents there’s market share to be grabbed and easier international connections to be made.

For our authors, exposure to the international publishing community will hopefully lead to seeing their books overseas and in translation. With our Chinese agent Fanny Yu of CA-Link I toasted the sale of mainland Chinese rights to Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird’s I Need a New Bum!, and I got a good response to their new book Mister Spears and his Hairy Ears. Our new international picture book series Indigenous Voices, which includes a great new story from Tim Tipene, is exciting a lot of interest also. And the September release of Hirini Moko Mead’s classic Te Toi Whakairo: The Art of Maori Carving is also promising good sales offshore.

With Fanny Yu of our Chinese agency CA-Link

I was also delighted to present some fine NZ books from outside our own programme, including Neil Coleman’s hard-hitting YA novel Roskill, David Bell’s YA fantasy novel The Dog Hunters (first in a very promising series), David Lupton and Leonel Alvarado’s beautiful The Divine Remains, and the sumptuous Coast, Country, Neighbourhood, City, which profiles the work of design studio Isthmus.

Our section of the NZ stand

So much of world publishing is dominated by big US, UK, French and German corporations. Alongside good meetings with colleagues from all those markets, this year Frankfurt brought me great exchanges with publishers from publishers as far flung as Belarus, Chile, El Salvador, Ireland ... Big is beautiful but so is small.

Peter Dowling is managing director of Oratia Media (www.oratiamedia.com) and publisher of its books division Libro International (www.librointernational.com), and is international councillor of the Publishers Association of New Zealand.

Mister Spears launches on 8 October with bookstore appearances

Mister Spears and his Hairy Ears, the new picture book from Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird, will be published this Thursday 8 October.

Dawn and Ross will be appearing in Auckland at Whitcoulls Botany at 11 am on the 8th, and at the Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop at 10.30 a.m. on Friday 9th.

This fun story meets the kind but sad Mister Spears as he tries to control his rampant ear hair:

I trim and I trim and still the hair grows

way past my knees, down to my toes …

Nothing he tries can stop his ear hair growing – not even wearing a motorcycle helmet! Then a flash of inspiration brings the answer, one that leads to a big change in life for him and his cute cat Tiger.

Take the kids along to Botany and Ponsonby and prepare for fun and laughs with the bestselling authors of I Need a New Bum! and Doctor Grundy's Undies.