Exciting news, y’all! Please join me in welcoming….. our new contributor, Rachel!
It seemed a great time to get some new writing in here and expand a bit and generally cover over the fact that I am an not looking after you well enough by myself! So, you will see new posts going up that have Posted by Rachel on them and you should all comment and be lovely and pushy and controversial and stuff. 
My plans to take over the book world continue apace! 
I’ve said too much…
Excuse my absence, the details of which I will not bore you with.
Christchurch! How are you doing? For those not aware (which won’t be many because most of you are Kiwis according to my Google analytics) Christchurch had the misfortune of being subjected to a 7.1 magnitude earthquake at 4.30am on Saturday morning. No lives were lost, but there has been significant damage in lots of large and little ways.
I know I have a few readers in Christchurch (including the ever lovely commenter Kim who’s in the surrounding rural area and is doing fine, thank god, because we luffs her) so I really hope you guys are doing okay, and your books are doing okay, and your cats are doing okay and… well, just in general, please let us know if there’s anything anyone can do or help with.
Books don’t do so well in earthquakes (or at least shelves don’t) so our thoughts go to Christchurch City Libraries and their books and huge shout-out to their blog too, which is great – they have updates on the quake and the impact on the upcoming The Press Christchurch Writers Festival 2010 – which as of now, looks like it’s cancelled (the website updated just as I was typing this!).
The University of Canterbury and its library and collections have also suffered.
Christchurch seems to be continuing to have aftershocks – which is hard on the people, no time to sit back and process what has happened to you.
Happenings like this always put the little stuff in perspective. Our thoughts are with you, Christchurch peoples.
AUCKLAND, 3 May 2010. New Zealand’s exceptional book design talent is showcased in the shortlist announced today for the 2010 Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards.
Designers “shape the way readers experience a book,” says Peter Gilderdale, one of the judges. “Authors provide the content, but the designer can either enhance or inhibit the way the book functions.”
The depth of talent made it difficult for Gilderdale, along with the other judges, Graham Beattie and Sharon Grace, to select 2010’s contenders Gilderdale adds, “The standard was very high and even — a wonderful mix of the vibrant and restrained, clever and crafted, quirky and traditional — this is great for book buyers but tough on judges!”
A new award for young designers introduced last year has proved spot on, with this year’s main category shortlist featuring all three 2009 Awa Press Young Designer of the Year finalists: Spencer Levine (winner), Keely O’Shannessy and Carolyn Lewis. Finalists for the 2010 Awa Press Young Designer of the Year Award will be announced on Thursday 3 June.
Levine is one of the designers who feature multiple times, along with Kate Barraclough, and Sarah Laing, who has not only designed two of the books in the shortlist, but is also the author of one of them.
Ranging from the commercially successful New Zealand titles like The Wonky Donkey and A Treasury of New Zealand Baking to beautiful international titlesThe Life & Love of Trees and A Beautiful Game, this year’s shortlist illustrates the diversity of the New Zealand literary landscape.
The 2010 judging panel is Peter Gilderdale, Head of Graphic Design at AUT University, Graham Beattie, a fulltime book reviewer and book blogger, and designer Sharon Grace.
The awards are run by the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) to promote excellence in, and provide recognition for, the best book design in New Zealand. The competition is judged in six categories, with a winner for the highly coveted Best Book chosen from the shortlist and sponsored by Nielsen Book Services.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on 22 July, along with the Awa Press Young Designer of the Year. The awards are sponsored by a range of publishers, along with North & South magazine and Kalamazoo Wyatt & Wilson printers.
Finalists for the 201 0 PANZ Book Design Awards are as follows:
Anita Mcleod, Book Design Ltd and Katz Cowley
The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith Scholastic New Zealand
Michael Greenfield
Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn Scholastic New Zealand
Anna Seabrook
Ben and Mark: Boys of the High Country by Christine Fernyhough and John Bougen
Random House New Zealand
Sarah Laing (cover), Kate Barraclough (interior)
Dead People’s Music by Sarah Laing Random House New Zealand
Spencer Levine (cover and interior) Dee Murch (layout)
In a Word: The Essential Tool for Finding the Perfect Word by Mark Broatch
New Holland Publishers (NZ)
Keely O’Shannessy (cover), Katrina Duncan(interior)
Mirabile Dictu by Michele Leggott Auckland University Press
Fiona Lascelles
Villa: From Heritage to Contemporary by Patrick Reynolds, Jeremy Hansen and
Jeremy Salmond Random House New Zealand
Spencer Levine (cover) and Katrina Duncan (interior)
Marti Friedlander by Leonard Bell Auckland University Press
Cameron Gibb
The Life & Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell PQ Blackwell
Anna Seabrook
Get Growing: A New Zealand Step-by-step Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables
and Fruit by Helen Cook Random House New Zealand
Cheryl Rowe, Macarn Design
Geography on the Edge by Justin Peat and John Lockyear Cengage Learning
Book Design Ltd
Year 9 Graphics by Pail Bourdiot Cengage Learning
Mission Hall (interior), Afineline (additional design and typesetting)
Art at Te Papa by William McAloon Te Papa Press
Kate Barraclough
A Treasury of New Zealand Baking edited by Lauraine Jacobs Random House New Zealand
Kate Barraclough
Wine Class: All You Need to Know about Wine in New Zealand by Jo Burzynska
Random House New Zealand
Keely O’Shannessy
As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong Penguin Group (NZ)
Sarah Laing
Magpie Hall by Rachael King Random House New Zealand
Carolyn Lewis
A Beautiful Game by Tom Watt PQ Blackwell
I thought I’d give you a chance to ask me a question – about pretty much anything I write about!
Want to know why I hate Ian McEwan?
Want to know something about Trade Me?
Want to know why I started blogging?
Want to know what kinds of books I absolutely refuse to read?
Have a burning publishing/book selling question you’ve been dying to ask?
Just want to know why I like cats so much?
Anyone? Let’s chat.
I really need to work on my headline writing.
Aaaaaanyway, spring will be here tomorrow! Officially, though looking outside at grey skies I am not entirely sure spring knows that it is expected.
Traditionally this is the time we start thinking about gardening and tidying up around the house and looking ahead to summer reading… this winter’s been tough. I’m looking forward to some warmth.
Here’s some BookieMonster suggestions for appropriate spring books:
Yes, we sell secondhand and new books!
The random chooser has spoken and here are the winners of the giveaway of What the Dog Saw, Cannibal Jack and Family Album.
Congratulations! I’ll be emailing you all shortly for your postal addresses. As usual thanks to everyone who entered!
And if you didn’t win I would highly recommend buying any (or all) of these titles – they are well worth the admission price…