Gecko Press won the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year in Oceania last month at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The awards, which went to publishers in Europe, Africa, Asia, central-South America, North America and Oceania, are for courageous and innovative publishing in the past year.
Publisher Julia Marshall was honored to receive the award. “We are very grateful to all the originating publishers of the books we translate for our list, and to all our very special Gecko Press authors, illustrators and publishing team. We are extraordinarily proud to be recognized for publishing curiously good children’s books, as we enter our eighth year in publishing.”
Julia said the Fair was a very good one for Gecko. “I’ve found really good books and there was nice interest in some of our New Zealand titles.” She also enjoyed seeing two Jack Lazenby titles in the White Ravens display.
Frances Plumpton was at Bologna on her own behalf for the Literary Agency she opened in 2012. She was thrilled for Gecko’s success. “They’re just wonderful and going from strength to strength. Julia works very hard indeed at Bologna.”
Her comments on the exhibition were all positive. “It was overwhelming. I took mainly picture books, two graphic novels and a few fiction titles on behalf of several NZ publishers as well as my own clients and I’ve had interest in every one.
“The interest comes from the UK, US, Spain, Korea, Australia, Italy, Turkey and Germany. But there are still challenges, as some feel the material was too local.”
Frances went on to a conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in Paris, a joint French/German event. “The panel of French editors was interesting. They strictly adhere to their submission rules. Another session contrasted the differences in European and US and UK picture books, which made me very aware that both European and English-speaking markets require different styles of art and narrative.” Frances is grateful for the sponsorship from Creative New Zealand for this trip.
Clean Slate Press was a first-timer at Bologna and Frances McBeath was not helped by problems with freight, which did not arrive until the last day. “Because of this, I didn’t do all the walk ups I had planned,” she says. Nevertheless, she rated the Fair as excellent and a worthwhile learning experience. Clean Slate were exhibiting on the Australian Publishers Association stand, which worked well for them.
“We will probably go again next year, but do more preparation. I was impressed at the number of American publishers at the Fair, which is a positive.”
And as a result of one of the walk ups that did get made, says Frances, “Clean Slate has picked up something exciting for China which we are working on now.”
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