Wednesday 7th August 2019 was a big day for children’s books in Aotearoa as the winners of the annual NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults were announced at a gala event in Wellington. Accordingly, lunchtime saw Unity Books’ and Gecko Press’ regular celebration of all of the nominated books with a panel of publishers from around the country coming together to talk about their favourite reading from their fellow publishers. Our panellists this year were Catherine O’Loughlin (Penguin Random House), Eboni Waitere (Huia Publishers), Mary McCallum (Mākaro Press), Julie Marshall (Gecko Press) and Robbie Burton (Potton & Burton). Our panel proved to have like minds with the award judges, picking out a number of the eventual winners. All were in agreement that all of this years nominees were excellent reads for children, young adults, grown-ups, and industry insiders alike.
Read more about all of the nominated and winning books at the NZ Book Awards website.
Julia Marshall with Whose Home is This? by Gillian Candler and Fraser Williamson (published by Potton & Burton, nominated for Non-Fiction Elsie Locke Award)
Catherine O’Loughlin talks about Cook’s Cook by Gavin Bishop (published by Gecko Press, nominated for Illustration Russell Clark Award)
Mary McCallum gets to grips with Puffin the Architect by Kimberly Andrews (Published by Puffin Books, winner of the Russell Clark Award for Illustration)
Robbie Burton talks about Legacy by Whiti Hereaka (Published by Huia, winner of Young Adult Fiction Award)
Eboni Waitere champions Te Hīnga Ake A Māui I Te Ika Whenua Donovan Bixley and Darryn Joseph, translated by Keri Opai (Published by Upstart Press, nominated for Te Reo Māori Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award)
Julia Marshall’s next choice is Search for a Kiwi Killer by Des Hunt (Published by Torea Press, nominated for Junior Fiction Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award)
Catherine O’Loughlin picked out Art-tastic (Published by Christchurch Art Gallery, winner of Non-fiction Elsie Locke Award and Best First Book Award)
Mary McCallum with Mapmakers’ Race by Hunter Eirlys (Published by Gecko Press, nominated for Junior Fiction Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award)
Robbie Burton loved Oink by David Elliot (Published by Gecko Press, nominated for Illustration Russell Clark Award)
Ebony Waitere has been reading Nga Whetu Matariki i Whanakotia with her kids (Published by Scholastic, nominated for Te Reo Māori Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award)
Catherine O’Loughlin with The Bomb by Sacha Cotter and Josh Morgan (Published by Huia, winner of Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award and Picture Book Award)
Mary McCallum rounds up with a word for Go Girl: A Storybook of Epic NZ Women (Published by Puffin, nominated for Non-fiction Elsie Locke Award)
Publishers story time follows show-and-tell.
All of the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults nominees and winners are available to purchase in-store and online at unitybooksonline.
