The creative powerhouse behind Little
Love is Sophia and Anna
Egan-Reid. Life-long readers, the sisters have been involved in family
publishing business Egan-Reid Limited all their adult lives. Established by
their parents Mary Egan and her husband Gerard Reid in the early 1990s, the
company has now published more than a thousand books in New Zealand and
internationally; latterly, as Mary Egan Publishing (MEP).
When Egan-Reid Ltd was sold to Pindar NZ in 2007, Sophia single-handedly
ran the self-publishing department, before leaving to start up MEP at the end
of 2010. Sophia got the company off the ground and assumed the role of
publisher and project manager. Thereafter, she involved her mother and graphic
designer sister in the business.
Now that MEP has grown and flourished, Sophia and Anna felt that the
time was right to launch their own imprint from within the Mary Egan stable. Little Love is
that imprint and marks a new chapter in their publishing story. It also creates
an opportunity for Sophia and Anna to explore new challenges.
Passionate about their work and keen to pay it forward by working with
New Zealand writers and artists, Sophia and Anna are committed to producing
sophisticated, quality children’s books. They have now published two books
under their Little Love imprint: Tu Meke Tui! by Malcolm Clarke and
illustrated by acclaimed aerosol and stencil artist Flox (aka Hayley King), and
poetry collection Feel A Little by Jenny Palmer and artist Evie Kemp.
Sophia and Anna are currently working on another three titles for
publication in the next 6-12 months, as they collaborate with artists Beck
Wheeler, Ema Frost and another, yet to be named. They are also working on the
Te Reo version of Tu Meke Tui! which comes out in September 2017.
Sophia says, “Before my father died he wrote a business plan for MEP; a
company that he envisioned would be focused on doing the absolute best for a
small group of authors.”
“The creation of MEP has fulfilled my late father’s wish and, hopefully,
exceeded his expectations. I like to think that with the launch of new imprint
Little Love, we’ve made him proud,” said Sophia.
Sophia Egan-Reid grew up in the publishing business and is a born
entrepreneur. Highly creative and driven, she started out as an administrator
in family company Egan-Reid Ltd and quickly became Office Manager. For the past
seven years, Sophia has been the Publishing and Project Manager at Mary Egan Publishing.
Here, she works closely with clients, overseeing their books from start to
finish. The creation of Little Love marks the next step in her publishing
career. She lives in Pukekohe with her fiancé James, dog Gus and cat Blue. For
more, go to: http://www.maryegan.co.nz/about/.
Anna Egan-Reid is a graphic designer who has been in the book
industry for more than 14 years. She paid her way through university by
illustrating for Australian publisher Elsevier and the Samoan Government. After
completing her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and English at Otago University,
she went travelling before coming back to start her career as a book designer.
Although she had been typesetting since her late teens, she learnt the finer
points of book design from her mother Mary Egan from 2005 onwards. From 2010–2012
she was an in-house designer at Penguin Books (NZ), before joining Mary Egan
Publishing. Anna has been shortlisted for a number of PANZ book design awards
and in 2016 won the Allen & Unwin Young Designer of the Year Award. In 2012
she won the Hachette New Zealand Award for Best Non-Illustrated Book. Anna’s
son Louie is her original “little love.”
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