Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Harper Collins NZ MDTony Fisk: retiring, relocating


Tony and Pat Fisk were guests of the PANZ Council at a function held in Auckland last night to say au revoir as Tony retires from HarperCollins NZ next week.

PANZ President Kevin Chapman said that Tony would be greatly missed by his colleague publishers as he had given great service to the industry over many years. He served on PANZ Council, and had accepted the Presidency at short notice when Michael Moynahan moved overseas.

But very importantly, Tony had been willing to act as an industry representative on bodies such as the Book Month board and the board of the NZ Book Council. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Book Trade Liaison Committee when publishers separated from Booksellers NZ.

The BTLC has found major success in initiating the revival of NZ Book Month and the voucher scheme, which gives book stores good customer traffic in March, a previously slow month for the book trade. Kevin said that his experience and wisdom would be sorely missed within the industry.

In response, Tony expressed that he had gained a great deal from his time at HarperCollins and on industry bodies. He suggested that the work given on such bodies was not as acknowledged as it should be. He specially noted the support that Pat had given him, but enigmatically suggested that he was not retiring, simply taking a break.

The Fisks are moving back to England, but expect to be frequent visitors to New Zealand.



From PANZ newsletter

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