Monday, October 13, 2014

Two awards in five weeks for Book Island

Last Friday children's publisher Book Island received the Customer Choice Award at the twentieth edition of the Electra Business Awards.
Book Island customers from all over the world voted for the publishing house that started up in April 2012 and has released 8 picture books in English and 6 in Dutch since then. 'We are totally blown away by the support we received not only from our customers, but also from our stockists in the six countries we're now distributing in,' said the publisher at the Awards ceremony in Levin.


Illustration from Book Island's latest release,The Rabbit and the Shadow by Mélanie Rutten

To thank their loyal customers Book Island will be celebrating the Customer Choice award till the end of October with lots of competitions and giveaways on their Facebook page. Customers who have subscribed to their newsletter on the publisher's website, and new subscribers, will also be able to take part.

As well as the Electra Customer Choice Award, the Kapiti-based publisher received an Honorary Mention in September for Azizi en de kleine blauwe vogel (Azizi and the Little Blue Bird), their own Dutch title, in the Jenny Smelik Awards. These are organised by the IBBY board (International Board on Books for Young People) in the Netherlands.

After selling the French- and Danish-language rights of this picture book about the Tunisian Revolution of 2009, Book Island have decided to release their own English-language edition mid 2015. Despite the sophisticated topic of the book 1000 copies have already been pre-ordered.

'These awards prove that there is a growing demand for the picture books that we publish. We will continue to release stunning titles that can make a difference', said publisher Greet Pauwelijn.


Book Island titles can be purchased from all good bookstores, gallery and museum shops, and from an increasing number of gift stores in New Zealand, or online from the publisher's website. 

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