Spring 2023
In this edition:
A triple celebration, enlightening seminars and ākonga in the wild!
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The Whitireia Publishing Class of 2023
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Everything I Know About Books launched on a cold, rainy Tuesday to a warm and proud audience. The night’s attention was split across the book’s launch, celebrating thirty years of Whitireia Publishing and congratulating the graduates of 2023.
Planning the event was a meticulous affair. An elegant vibe was curated, with a shimmery, pearlescent photoshoot backdrop, a soundtrack of music from Aotearoa, a disco ball and three reels of fairy lights (untangled hours beforehand by brave volunteers).
The night kicked off with happy reunions: students greeting colleagues from work placements and tutors catching up with alumni and past staff. Students brought along their whānau, flatmates, partners and friends to celebrate. The event was extremely buzzy and well attended – a who’s who of the New Zealand publishing industry turned out in force to support ākonga and their tutors.
Also on the scene were the good people of Good Books, touting both Everything I Know About Books and A Book is a Book, which was published to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the course.
After our MCs for the evening – students Kate Broadley and Josie Moon – opened the festivities with an energetic welcome (the M in MC stands for mischief when referring to these two), Mark Oldershaw, Tumu Whenua ā-Rohe 3 | Executive Director, Region 3 of Te Pūkenga, opened the speeches.
We heard from tutors-extraordinaire Odessa Owens and Theresa Crewdson, the lovely Sydney Gay and Jemma Morrison on behalf of the students, and then it was time for prizes.
- Tim Mason presented the Andrew Mason Award for Most Promising Editor, on behalf of his late brother. It was too difficult to pick just one winner, so Betty Davis and Juliet Dreaver were both named as the incredibly talented recipients!
- The Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Best All-Round Student was then presented to a teary-eyed Jemma Morrison by Ellie Kyrke-Smith. We could not be prouder of the lovely (and humble) Jemma and all that she has achieved this year.
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Award recipients Juliet Dreaver, Betty Davis and Jemma Morrison
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Head of Publishing at Penguin Random House and President of PANZ, Claire Murdoch, took us on a nostalgia trip back to the 1990s when the course was started before officially launching Everything I Know About Books. She also said she wished she could have been a fly on the wall in our classroom to learn all that we had learned during the year. Student Stephen Olsen closed the formalities with two beautiful poems.
See more photos from the celebrations on our Facebook page.
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The Creative New Zealand National Publishing Internships Initiative
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We're thrilled to announce the recipients of the Creative New Zealand National Publishing Internships for 2024:
- Huia Publishers: Trinity Thompson-Browne (Ngāti Kahungunu, Muaūpoko)
- Massey University Press: Cadence Galt
- Bateman Books: Jemma Morrison
Congratulations to you all!
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Calling Future Publishers!
Applications are now open for our 2024 Publishing scholarships:
- The Mason Publishing Scholarship
- The Penguin Random House Māori and Pacific Publishing scholarship
- The Excel Digital Māori and Pacific Publishing scholarship
Find out more about the course and the scholarships here: https://bit.ly/3UDk7n7
Applications close January 15, 2024. |
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Each year, Whitireia Publishing students collaborate with external publishers to project manage, edit, typeset and market book projects. This year’s projects comprised two anthologies, two novels, an academic journal and an annual pānui.
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Everything I know about books: An insider look at publishing in Aotearoa edited by Odessa Owens and Theresa Crewdson (Whitireia Publishing)
Everything I know about books is a vibrant anthology about the book trade in Aotearoa, published to celebrate thirty years of the Whitireia Publishing course. This was a class-wide project, and we’re so proud of it. It features over seventy candid, funny, thought-provoking and powerful pieces from talented folk throughout the industry. In his foreword, Witi Ihimaera says this substantial, diverse book ‘looks like becoming a best mate’ – if you’ve got a friend in need, you know what to do.
Available from all good book stores or as an ebook.
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Whitireia Journal of Nursing, Health & Social Services
Celebrating 30 years of the Whitireia Journal of Nursing, Health & Social Services, the 2023 edition includes four articles across topics ranging from the impacts of teaching from home during COVID-19, to incorporating Te Whare Tapa Whā into mental health and addictions nursing. The editorial for this thirtieth anniversary edition is by Dr Leanne Pool, who has been involved in the Whitireia Nursing Programme since 1993. She writes about the importance of looking to the past to move into the future.
Available from Whitireia and Weltec | Te Pūkenga.
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Emergency Weather by Tim Jones (The Cuba Press)
In Emergency Weather, three people find themselves in Wellington as the climate crisis crashes into their lives, which felt timely in a year that began with the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle. We had a lot of fun working with The Cuba Press and award-winning author and activist Tim Jones on this action-packed climate fiction novel. In her review, Catherine Robertson, who 'ripped through it', called Emergency Weather “an intelligent, plausible, and highly readable portrayal of this very complex and urgent problem”. And the eye-catching cover was designed by our very own Josie Moon!
Available from The Cuba Press.
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40 New Zealand Scenes for Youth (Playmarket)
This anthology is a comprehensive and contemporary toolkit for young performers, featuring forty scenes that showcase the skills and diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand playwrights. There is something for everyone: a broad range of genres and voices, various cast sizes, gender and racial diversity, historical and modern, and twists on the classics.
This project required the team to balance many styles while fitting within the overarching Playmarket style, but we enjoyed the challenge!
Available from Playmarket.
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Light Keeping by Adrienne Jansen (Quentin Wilson Publishing)
The latest novel from Adrienne Jansen is a story of loss, light and hope set at a coastal lighthouse in Aotearoa. It follows two orphans, Jess and Robert, as they learn to deal with loss, guided and supported by their grieving grandparents. Forty years later, Jess and Robert are adrift once again but find themselves drawn back towards the past and the world of the sea.
The gorgeous cover was designed by ākonga Jemma Morrison, while the internal glyphs were the work of classmates Evie Birch and Cadence Galt.
‘In her clear, understated way, Adrienne Jansen leads you up a coastal road and breaks your heart.’
—Sue McCauley
Available from Quentin Wilson Publishing
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Tell us a story out of your own mouth by Mona Williams (Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Pānui)
This year’s Pānui was delivered by Mona Williams. In Tell us a story out of your own mouth, Mona Williams shares how her background shaped her as a storyteller and why it is important to teach children that they are storytellers.
We were honoured to have the chance to meet Mona and to help share her story.
Available from Read NZ Te Pou Muramura.
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Ākonga in the wild
If you went to any bookish events this year, chances are someone from the Whitireia Publishing Class of 2023 was there! Here are just a few of our highlights.
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Many of us overcame nerves about public speaking to appear on panels, such as this one at Unity Books Wellington. Betty, Josie and Nakisa joined Paul Stewart (The Cuba Press) and Tim Jones to discuss Tim's new novel Emergency Weather.
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During a visit to Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa | National Library of New Zealand, we visited the legal deposit librarians, the collection stores (the stacks) and He Tohu, as well as exploring some rare books and images from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections (as seen here).
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The launch of Adrienne Jansen's novel Light Keeping was held at Trades Hall in Wellington. The 70s theme extended to all the refreshments, such as these cheese-and-pineapple hedgehogs assembled by Siân, Sarah and Cadence.
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Talented poet, photographer and ākonga Trinity Thompson-Browne (Ngāti Kahungunu, Muaūpoko) joined poets Anahera Gildea, Arihia Latham and Aziembry Aolani (pictured left to right above) in a lunchtime reading, organised by the Māori Literature Trust – Te Waka Taki Kōrero and held at Good Books.
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Editor Belinda McGrath (left) celebrated with the student publishing team at the launch of the 30th edition of the Whitireia Journal of Nursing, Health and Social Sciences.
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We visited our friends at Good Books in Wellington on their third birthday – also the day Everything I Know about Books was released.
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We took a tour of Blue Star's Petone print factory in August. Seeing the machines really helped us understand the difference between the different types of printing available!
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At a booked-out Verb Wellington panel chaired by the wonderful Brannavan Gnanalingam, a panel of four graduates shared the juicy details about what they learnt at publishing school.
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Every year, Whitireia Publishing ākonga conclude their formal course requirements with the presentation of in-class seminars, based on research into a topic of interest to the publishing industry and book trade. The seminars feature an opportunity for intensive discussion and are attended by representatives from the industry.
Three words to describe the seminars delivered in 2023 would be inquisitive, insightful and imaginative. The topics covered in the 19 presentations ranged from the whys and wherefores of establishing new sites for writers’ residencies, to trade trends for different genres of fiction – taking in romance, science fiction, fantasy, graphic novels and the influence of #BookTok. Other ākonga presented a series of takes on the distinct places of book reps, literary agents, second-hand bookshops and small presses within the industry’s overall ecosystem.
Several presentations posed provocative questions that did not shy away from deficits and challenges in the industry. These included seminars that unpacked:
- Constructing sustainable futures in publishing for Māori.
- Power dynamics within the industry as well as their influence on determining narratives.
- The ethics of of book blurbs and celebrity shout quotes.
- Issues of content integrity and ethics specific to cookbooks.
- The rationale for wider deployment of large print books.
- Accessibility issues specific to the publishing industry.
- Ways to overcome limited funding options for publishing ventures.
Two seminars covered different aspects of the rate and appetite for adapting books for the screen, with one imaginatively suggesting casting ideas for Adrienne Jansen’s new novel Light Keeping. Sam Neill and Thomasin McKenzie should expect a call any day now!
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Editing Micro-credentials
 This year, Whitireia Publishing launched the first NZQA-approved micro-credentials to support training and development in our sector. These are:
- Grammar and punctuation
- Copy-editing
These courses are a flexible, easy-to-access study and professional development option, designed for self-directed, self-paced study. They are aimed at people already in the workplace who want to sharpen or develop their language skills, as well as people wanting to dip their toes into editing.
Each course will take up to 50 hours to complete and participants have up to 10 weeks to complete each course.
Further information and enrolment details for the micro-credentials can be found here: https://www.whitireiaweltec.ac.nz/study-programmes/creativity/creative-writing-and-publishing/ |
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A huge thank you to everyone from the industry who supported us in so many ways this year!
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Written by Kate Broadley, Betty Davis, Cadence Galt, Sydney Gay, Juniper Gibson and Stephen Olsen
Edited by Josie Moon, Jemma Morrison and Siân Robyns
Proofread by Kezia Bennett and Juliet Dreaver
Photos by: J-Von Aki, Juniper Gibson, Sarah Hillocks, Stephen Olsen and Odessa Owens
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