Oratia Media marks 25 years with launch of Five Oceans imprint

 

Oratia Media is celebrating its 25^th birthday, having been founded on 31 August 2000 by Peter Dowling and Alessandra Zecchini in Oratia, West Auckland. 

 

Initially a publishing services business for clients in New Zealand, Japan and Europe, Oratia Media later broadened its scope, while Peter maintained a full-time role at Reed Publishing (NZ).

Alessandra Zecchini

Business included cooking classes, food writing and styling, managing charity Te Potiki National Trust, business and travel journalism, teaching, translation and contract publishing. 

Hard work over those early years laid the foundation for the company’s own publishing under the Oratia Books brand. Since 2008 it has published more than 220 own and commissioned books. 

Peter Dowling

‘Sincere thanks to our team and all the authors, illustrators, clients, photographers, editors, designers, distributors, printers, booksellers, librarians, teachers, students, reviewers and readers who have been with us on this journey,’ the founders said today. 

 

Oratia Books’ philosophy is to publish and keep in print new and classic works, marketing across New Zealand with active distribution and rights deal worldwide. 

The Treaty of Waitangi, Margaret Mahy Book of the Year 2025 

That international approach led in 2021 to the BOP Bologna Prize for Best Children’s Publisher in Oceania. A further accolade came this month with Ross Calman’s The Treaty of Waitangi named Margaret Mahy Book of the Year in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. 

 

To mark its 25^th anniversary, Oratia Books is launching a new international imprint, Five Oceans. This new list will bring literary non-fiction and children’s books to Oceania from cultures whose works are under-represented in English, let alone in Polynesian languages. 

 

First comes The Ant Rebellion, a bestselling junior novel from Turkey, in October, then Finnish picture book Thank you, Forest in November. Books from India and Norway are next up in 2026. 

‘We look forward to extending Oratia’s activities to all five oceans of our planet,’ said Peter, who is developing the imprint with Rome-based Maria Leonardi, international rights manager.

 

‘With Five Oceans, we aim to bring outstanding writing and illustration into our languages, while encouraging cultural exchange to and from Aotearoa.’

Publishing with partners: Oratia keeps commissioned work to the fore

‘We couldn’t be more thrilled with the book we launched as a celebration of our 50th anniversary... Thank you, Oratia Media — you are an amazing company to work with.’

—    Bruce Pilbrow, CEO, Spirit of Adventure Trust

Oratia Media started life in 2000 as a publishing services business, and along with our own books continues to partner with organisations to bring their stories to publication.

Most recently, in November 2023 we published Roger McDonald’s A Spirit Companion as a commission from The Spirit of Adventure Trust for  its 50-year celebrations.

Roger’s superb stories of those who have sailed and supported ‘the Spirit’ spring from the page with their accompanying drawings by Sue Fisher — telling of lives changed by youth voyages and love of the sea.

‘We couldn’t be more thrilled with the book we launched as a celebration of our 50th anniversary,’ says Bruce Pilbrow, the Trust’s CEO.

‘The result is truly world class. Thank you, Oratia Media — you are an amazing company to work with.’

Oratia loved working with the Spirit team, and thank Stephen Fisher and the Trust board for putting their confidence in us to take their book from a manuscript to printed book.

The result is a beautiful production that has crossed over into the retail market, with copies on display in bookstores across the country over the 2023–24 summer.

Other commissioned publications Oratia managed last year were the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society’s print and ebook Making a Stand, and the Samoan-English picture book O Leilani ma lona Fale’oloa/Leilani’s Shop for Auckland Libraries.

Clients for whom we have produced quality books over the years include companies like Civic Assurance and Goodman Fielder, charities (The Tindall Foundation, the Order of St John), community groups and government agencies such as the New Zealand Geographic Board.

Oratia’s services range from writing, editing, proofreading and design through to print management and ebook conversion, all to the highest standards.

For more about our commission and partner publishing services, check out https://www.oratia.co.nz/services/ or email info@oratia.co.nz. 

Oratia Media - helping authors and organisations to publish

Oratia Media, which publishes Libro International books, is primarily a publishing services business that works with individuals and groups to produce a range of publications and text.

Booksellers New Zealand has just profiled Oratia Media in an interesting article on how major changes in the world of books over recent years have led to more self-publishing and contract services:

http://www.booksellers.co.nz/members/services-membership/shades-self-publishing-no-longer-diy-challenge