Plaudits continue for The Camera in the Crowd

There’s been no let-up in the positive reception to Christopher Pugsley’s major work on the early years of film in New Zealand.

Russell Baillie’s review in the Listener summarises The Camera in the Crowd in an informed and readable summary:

http://www.noted.co.nz/culture/movies/the-camera-in-the-crowd-the-opening-reels-of-nzs-film-history/

For Newshub, Tony Wright picked up on some of the key First World War footage featured in the book, filmed by Henry Armytage Sanders:

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/01/new-zealand-s-final-attack-of-wwi-was-filmed-a-century-ago.html

And reviewing the book for Radio Southland, Terry Toner described it as “a mighty gift to the country!!”.

A key element of the book is the linkages it provides to the actual film, much of which can be viewed on the website of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, the national film and sound archive in Wellington. 

Photos and text are part of the Ngā Taonga home page:

https://ngataonga.org.nz/set/the-camera-in-the-crowd

Christopher Pugsley will be talking about the book and sharing imagery with Chris Bourke at the Writers and Readers Festival in Wellington on 11 March:

https://www.festival.co.nz/2018/events/different-lens-looking-afresh-wwi/

Where was Woolly Wally?

Having a laugh is unavoidable when working with creative people like Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird, authors of bestselling children’s picture books. 

Having a lunch with Dawn, Ross and the Oratia team that brings their books to publication has become a fixture at the start of each year. Dawn always manages a surprise related to work in progress, unveiled at lunch in the Northcote Tavern on Auckland’s North Shore last week . 

With Ross having just finished the redesign of their classic Woolly Wally, a sheepish tale about a ram who’s king of the flock, things took a pretty silly turn. Thanks, Dawn, for your craft genius. 

We agreed not to tag any of the team on social media, though perhaps a bit of sheep dip is on order.

Woolly Wally will be back in stores in his fabulous new livery in June this year (ISBN 978-0-947506-42-1). 

Farewell to the much-loved Paul Greenberg

It was with great sadness that we learned this week of the passing of Paul Greenberg after a long illness.

That sadness has been shared throughout the book trade, of which Paul was a respected and beloved member.

Paul had joined the book trade in the late 1960s as a sales representative for A.H. & A.W. Reed, and over the subsequent 50 years worked with and for many of the great publishers and booksellers.

The inimitable Mr Greenberg – known for his charm, professionalism, sartorial elegance and gentlemanly ways – was the consummate sales rep.

With his partner Joan Roulston, Paul had operated Greene Phoenix Marketing over the past two decades, travelling the length and breadth of the country to market local and international books.

They enthusiastically represented Oratia Books in most of the North Island from 2009 until 2017, when health reasons obliged Paul reluctantly to “hang up his slate”.

See this summary of his contribution from Booksellers NZ this week.

Paul, thank you for all you did for us. Things won't be the same without you.

An arts challenge from Creative NZ's Chief Executive

Leading up to Christmas, Creative New Zealand's Chief Executive - Pou Whakahaere Stephen Wainwright has posted a most interesting, personal blog about how gift buyers might consider 'bringing it home'.

Click here to go to Stephen's blog, which sets an "arts challenge" for New Zealanders to explore and support local culture.

He kindly mentions Oratia as one place to go "to ensure that our arts and cultural expression has pride of place." 

Kia ora Stephen, and Merry Christmas/Meri Kirihimete ki a koutou katoa.

Reporting from the Guadalajara International Book Fair 2017

Here is our report from the Guadalajara International Book Fair, one of the world's major book and publishing events. 

Peter led the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) stand at the event, the first time NZ books and writing have been among the official exhibitors at the fair in Mexico's second city. 

The report is from this week's PANZ News, and a photo album can be seen at

https://www.facebook.com/pg/oratiabooks/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1617820034908081

Lights, camera, action for The Camera in the Crowd

There was indeed a crowd in Wellington for the Thursday 7 December launch of Christopher Pugsley’s seminal new book, The Camera in the Crowd: Filming New Zealand in Peace and War, 1895 – 1920.

Appropriately, the evening event took place at Nga Taonga Sound & Vision, the home of New Zealand’s film archive and a key partner in this account of the dawn of film in Aotearoa.

Christopher Pugsley speaks at the launch

Author Dr Christopher Pugsley spoke of his long journey to uncover the story of our early filmmakers and cinema impresarios, and his gratitude to the many collaborators and experts who supported him along the way.

Sarah Davy of Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision Group Manager Information Services Sarah Davy spoke of the pride the organisation feels at seeking the film history brilliantly captured in print form, and of the work that is going in to accompanying the book with online film footage and information.

Unity Books were kept busy by guests obtaining their signed copies of the 536-page hardback.

And of course, there were cameras in attendance! A selection of photos follows.

Christopher spoke the next morning on Radio New Zealand’s Saturday Morning show with Kim Hill. The Radio NZ site prefaced the book thus:

Christopher Pugsley is a respected and much published military historian – but what is not as well known is that he has a passion and a deep knowledge of film history. Pugsley's new book, The Camera in the Crowd, is the result of nearly three decades of research – the story of film in New Zealand for its first 25 years, 1895-1920, told largely through the footage that has survived in the archive of Nga Taonga Sound & Vision. It covers the last years of the Victorian era and the first two decades of the 20th century – a period that encompassed great political, technological and cultural changes, including the First World War. It tells of the cameramen, of the film they took - not only at home but also of the Kiwi 'Diggers' in the First World War - and how the public reacted to it.

Click here to hear the interview:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018624821/christopher-pugsley-aotearoa-s-first-films

And here are additional links to other coverage:

https://ngataonga.org.nz/set/the-camera-in-the-crowd

http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/news/brilliant-innovative-book-that-brings-to-life-the-first-years-of-film-of-new-zealanders-at-home-and-at-war