New Zealand Book Council launches new magazine for book lovers

New Zealand book lovers have a new means to sate their literary appetites with the relaunch this week of the Book Council’s magazine, Booknotes.
The Book Council has revamped Booknotes for its autumn issue to provide a fresh mix of news, views, and discussion about books, writing and writers in New Zealand.

Chief Executive Noel Murphy hopes the new Booknotes will prove a valuable addition to the arts media landscape.
“The Book Council’s primary focus is to encourage a love of reading and books, and we believe there’s room for more media discussion that stimulates New Zealanders’ interest in books,” he says.
“We hope readers welcome the broad and deep coverage of all things books that Booknotes offers, and, in particular, the New Zealand perspectives it provides. We wanted it to be a lively and satisfying read for book enthusiasts.”

The Book Council’s members’ magazine, Booknotes is also available to all to read online at the council’s website http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/. Three issues will be published this year, and it will return to quarterly publication next year.

The relaunch of the magazine to reflect a broad range of reading interests is central to a new strategy for the Book Council to increase its relevance for readers of all ages, from all corners of New Zealand, Noel Murphy says.
The autumn issue includes discussion by Paula Morris on ways to rethink the Montana Book Awards, a feature on emerging writers Michele Powles and Eleanor Catton, and a “writing masterclass” from Owen Marshall on journal writing.

Regular features in the magazine will include new poetry or fiction (a Tusiata Avia poem in this issue), a topical opinion piece (in this issue, publisher Nicola Legat on electronic readers), event previews, hidden treasures among New Zealand bookshops, a spotlight on a fiction or non-fiction genre (in this issue, crime picks from writer Neil Cross), reading group notes (this issue, Opportunity and Singularity by Charlotte Grimshaw), and more.

“We’ve reconceived Booknotes to cater to the diverse tastes that reflect the reading interests of our members and of New Zealanders generally,” says Noel Murphy. “The magazine will have a particular, but not exclusive, emphasis on New Zealand writing, in line with the Book Council’s aim to familiarise more readers with New Zealand writing and writers.”

FOOTNOTE:

The Bookman is greatly taken by both the new cover (love it!) and the content of this first new issue. The long lead story by US-based NZ author Paula Morris contains her well-written and thoughtful suggestions on ways to rethink the Montana NZ Book Awards. This is most timely as the organisers announced last week that a full review is to be made of the awards prior to NZ Post taking over sponsorship from Montana next year.

But there is heaps of good reading on a wide range of book-related subjects. I hope to carry a couple of the stories on the blog in the next few days.