Oratia Books Catalogue 2022 — opening borders, opening books

The Oratia Books Catalogue 2022 is out now in print and digital form. 

We fly the Koru Flag on the cover, in homage to its creator Friedensreich Hundertwasser, whose story we'll publish this July in Hundertwasser in New Zealand.

Alongside that deluxe book, this year's catalogue presents more than a dozen new titles across children's and non-fiction genres, along with some significant reprints.

Flying the Koru Flag reflects our desire to embrace the world and new ideas, now that the movement of people and ideas across borders is resuming following pandemic closures.

As ever, this year's programme and our other activities couldn't happen without the incredible authors and illustrators who put their hearts and souls into the books, supported by our talented editors, designers, sales reps and marketers. 

Special thanks to Cheryl Smith and Alessandra Zecchini for the catalogue design and content, and Christine Borra and her team at YourBooks for the fine print job. 

The catalogue introduction follows; click here to view or download the PDF. To request a print copy, please email info@oratia.co.nz

As pandemic restrictions start to ease, Oratia embraces the world in 2022. The Koru Flag, designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser as an alternative New Zealand flag, flies in our forest. We will honour this global spirit this year by publishing the story of the artist’s life in New Zealand.

Despite Covid-19 challenges, our international commitment remains undimmed, and was rewarded with the BOP Bologna Prize 2021 for Best Children’s Publisher, Oceania. In that spirit, this year’s children’s list includes the Kiwi–Turkish collaboration The Water Bottle; a blend of Māori, Pākehā and Indian heritage in The River in our Backyard; and wide cultural diversity in The Grandmothers of Pikitea Street.

An arts and crafts focus extends from Hundertwasser in New Zealand to a celebration of the great artist Selwyn Muru, and a new edition of Len Gale’s Greenstone Carving. Artist and writer Richard Wolfe reflects on human impact in Footprints on the Land, and our New Zealand Classics edition of A.W. Reed’s Illustrated Māori Dictionary revives Roger Hart’s timeless drawings.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the international hit I Need a New Bum!, September will see a te reo Māori edition. The Bum series rocks on — the fourth, My Bum is SO CHEEKY!, entered bestseller lists in the UK and US early this year. And there’ll be more irreverent fun for kids with the riotous rugby rhymes of Peter Millett’s Hickory Dickory Kick.

Sandra Carrod’s Weather and Climate New Zealand adds a sixth book to The NZ Series, alongside teacher resources to support the series in schools. Also for students or general readers, The Moana Oceania series will introduce Polynesian cultures in English and local languages, thanks to support from Creative New Zealand.

Whoever and wherever you are in the world, we welcome you to find a home with Oratia Books.

Oratia Books Catalogue 2021 now available in print or PDF

It's a pleasure to share the Oratia Books Catalogue 2021, which is now out in print and digital form. 

This year's catalogue presents the 15 new titles we will publish this year across children's and non-fiction genres.

Thanks to our dedicated authors who have worked so hard to create these books, our team and partners who edit, design and print them, and in particular to Cheryl Smith for the catalogue design. 

The catalogue introduction follows; click here to view the whole thing. To request a print copy, please email info@oratia.co.nz

On with the books!

Every cloud has a silver lining, as the saying goes. Covid-19 has cast a cloud over the world, and meant we’ve had more time than usual at our office in Oratia to admire the clouds. The silver lining has shone through in the upsurge of reader support for local booksellers and publishers. That has given us the confidence to publish 15 new titles and various new editions in this, Oratia’s biggest year yet.

Sayings and figures of speech start off 2021 for Oratia Books with He Iti te Kupu: Māori Metaphors and Similes, a fully bilingual reference by Hona Black. Another work of substantial mana is He Atua, He Tangata, Ross Calman’s revision of A.W. Reed’s landmark treasury of Māori mythology. Pā Henare Tate’s He Puna Iti i te Ao Mārama is back in an updated edition, while for younger readers, Blimmin’ Koro and There’s a Moa in the Moonlight provide bilingual fun and learning.

Fun is the key to Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird’s hit ‘Bum’ books. The third in the series, My Bum is SO NOISY!, published worldwide early in the year, and a bindup of three of the team’s books will be out ahead of Christmas. More laughs come via the mischievous Fluff and Scout in Captain Cat, while Bedtime, Not Playtime! and Early One Morning provide early childhood stories featuring same-sex parents.

There’s more in the way of series, too. Events in the Life of Phillip Tapsell inaugurates the New Zealand Classics series, bringing unpublished or out-of-print works back into circulation. Meanwhile the NZ Series grows to five books with First Encounters and Matthew Wright’s The New Zealand Wars. Matthew also contributes a stunning ‘biography’ of HMS New Zealand.

Cover Story is Steve Braunias’ brilliant take on 100 of the best and worst New Zealand LP covers, and Voices of Aotearoa brings together the finest oratory from 25 years of Titirangi’s Going West Writers Festival. We’re grateful to Creative New Zealand and local supporters for enabling us to publish these more literary works.

The pandemic has offered a chance to pause and re-examine business as usual. As a result Oratia is advancing a policy of diversity and inclusion, renovating our ebook offering, and entering the audiobook space. Here’s to the silver lining.

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.