The winners of this year’s Australian Publishers Association (APA) Book Design Awards have been announced.
Congratulations to the three overall winners:
The Best Designed Book of the Year
Things I Love (Megan Morton, Lantern), designed by Evi Oetomo
The Best Designed Cover of the Year
The Voyage (Murray Bail), designed by W H Chong
The Best Designed Children’s Cover of the Year
The Dreadful Fluff (Aaron Blabey, Viking), designed by Elissa Webb and Aaron Blabey Continue reading
Wild Dog Books publisher Andrew Kelly attended this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which ran from 25-28 March. You can read his report of the fair here. Australian children’s book illustrations were once again on display, with Ann James and Owen Swan attracting the crowds with their live demonstrations.
Pro-book sticker spotted on the streets of Bologna
Owen Swan
Ann James
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Set on the south coast of NSW in Thirroul in 1948, where D H Lawrence wrote Kangaroo, this stunning novel follows the lives of several seemingly disparate characters. Dr Draper has seen the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. Roy has also been in the war, where he wrote poetry but can no longer find words. Roy’s sister Iris lives alone and cleans the house obsessively. Mac is an engine driver and trains are his business. Ani Lachlan, the railwayman’s wife, and her 10-year-old daughter Isabel, who is wise beyond her years, are coping with terrible grief. Ani takes a job in the local library where she matches books with people and their dreams. One man dreams of being a poet, another of being a doctor. Many rhythms form the soundtrack to this story—the sounds of the ocean, the words of great poets and writers, the changing views in a kaleidoscope, and the constant presence of trains. This is a heart-crunching novel about reading and writing, dreaming and hoping, loving and taking flight. It’s been a while since I felt so deeply affected by a novel and I will be very surprised if this book is not an award winner.
Paula Grunseit is a freelance journalist, editor and reviewer. This review first appeared in the Issue 1 2013 of Books+Publishing magazine. View more pre-publication reviews here.
Kate Blackwood is the new editorial assistant at Bookseller+Publisher, and naturally a big reader. We asked her to tell us what titles make her tick.
What are you reading right now?
I just finished Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead (Text) and I’ve plunged in to Anna Karenina—at long last.
What book do you always recommend?
This is How by M J Hyland (Text), The Collector by John Fowles (Vintage), John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (Penguin) and Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (Faber). Choosing is hard.
What book are you most looking forward to?
J M Coetzee’s The Childhood of Jesus (Text).
What book made you wonder what all the fuss was about?
A certain series of books featuring an earnest boy wizard.
What’s the best book you’ve read that no-one’s ever heard of?
I wouldn’t say no-one’s ever heard of it, but I was given graphic novel-in-a-box Building Stories (Chris Ware, Pantheon) for Christmas and it’s pretty extraordinary.
Obligatory desert island question—which book would you want with you?
Tess of the d’Urbervilles would see me through to a coconut-induced death, I think.
Is there a book you’ve bought for the cover?
There are many! Obviously anything designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Lots of semi-obscure vintage children’s hardbacks. I also coveted the 1987 edition of Anne of Green Gables with the beautiful green border so much that my partner bought me the entire set of hardbacks for Christmas one year, probably so I would stop pining over it.
Hardback, paperback or digital?
Paperback.
If I were a literary character I’d be…
Reepicheep from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ because I’m small and plucky.
The best thing about books is…
Climbing inside a writer’s brain and marvelling at her/his smarts.
Benjamin Law embarks on a wild ride through Asia to investigate queer culture in Gaysia. In Indonesia he meets the moneyboys who prostitute themselves to Western men, usually preferring the rich older men. In Thailand he visits the world’s biggest beauty pageant for transsexual women. In China he learns about the gay men who marry lesbians in sham-weddings to please overbearing parents and the unhappy straight women who unwittingly marry gay men. He encounters the comedic-feminine stereotypes of gay men presented on television in Japan. He attends sessions aimed at curing homosexuality, run by religious groups in Malaysia. And among the devastating poverty of Myanmar, he meets the men who are 42 times more likely to contract HIV than anywhere else. Law also attends a queer pride march in India where colonial anti-homosexuality laws were recently overturned. Gaysia is like a Louis Theroux documentary in book form, achieving a similar style of gonzo journalism to Theroux, with the hilarious Law becoming part of the story and experiencing the culture firsthand. Of course, this book will challenge those who find homosexuality confronting, but an unrestrained Law flushes out fragile readers early on with imagery from the poolside of a clothing-optional gay resort in Bali.
Andrew Wrathall is the publishing assistant for Bookseller+Publisher. This review first appeared in the June/July issue of Bookseller+Publisher Magazine. View more pre-publication reviews here.
The winners of this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards were announced today, marking the official launch of Children’s Book Week.
The winning books in each of the categories are:
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| Older Readers The Dead I Know (Scot Gardner, A&U) |
Younger Readers Crow Country (Kate Constable, A&U) |
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| Early Childhood The Runaway Hug (Nick Bland, illus by Freya Blackwood, Scholastic) |
Picture Book of the Year A Bus Called Heaven (Bob Graham, Walker Books) |
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| Eve Pownall Award for Information Books One Small Island: The Story of Macquarie Island (Alison Lester & Coral Tulloch, Penguin) |
Crichton Award for Illustration: Ben & Duck (Sara Acton, Scholastic) |
To see a list of all the winners and honour books, visit the Bookseller+Publisher website here.
The Oldest Song in the World is quite an incredible book. The story, with its mix of themes, is full of tension and interest. Kate is sent to a town outside Alice Springs to record an Aboriginal song that may be the oldest song in the world. She wants to go because she suspects the long-lost man in her life might be there. This sets up an interesting situation as Kate stumbles into a changed environment. She doesn’t understand local customs and makes blunders in communicating with Aboriginal people. She has dyed her hair and done much to change her appearance. And as she can’t find the woman who owns the song, Kate is forced to spend time settling in. Adrian, who may or may not be ‘her’ man, is her host, bossing her about and controlling her movements but also helping her stay out of trouble. A lot happens to Kate: she wants to help in the local school, she learns to cope with intermittent electrical supply, she is allowed to be on the edge of a night of local dancing, and so on. She also meets some very odd white people who display astounding attitudes to Aboriginal people in their fields of medicine, education and town duties. It all works though, and is totally engaging. I could tell you what happens but then you would miss the fun of this great story.
Clive Tilsley is the owner and director of Fullers Bookshop with almost 40 years in the trade. This review first appeared in the June/July issue of Bookseller+Publisher Magazine. View more pre-publication reviews here.
Let’s face it, economics is not the sexiest social science going around. If I were to spout the terms ‘negative externality’ or ‘elasticity of demand’, I’m pretty sure most readers’ eyes would glaze over. But what if someone could explain to you how the carbon tax works minus the political jargon, or why it is getting harder to buy a house? How about some tips on finding your perfect partner or shedding those extra few kilos? Sydney Morning Herald economics writer Jessica Irvine packs all this and more into her first book Zombies, Bananas and Why There Are No Economists in Heaven. Irvine’s book is a collection of her weekly ‘Irvine Index’ columns, introduced by new chapter overviews, and organised to reflect the way economic topics are covered in standard academic textbooks. Each column picks up on something from the news and explains the economics behind it, in a simple and funny way, sometimes with added puns. Irvine is an entertaining writer with a knack for explaining complex economic theory. Readers who are new to economics will learn a great deal from this book, while experienced economic wonks, like this reviewer, will savour Irvine’s humour and her ability to connect economic theory with everyday life.
Eloise Keating is a journalist with Bookseller+Publisher. Not so long ago, she spent her time studying economics at university
This week’s top stories from the Weekly Book Newsletter include:
The winners of the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards were announced on 5 July.
The winning titles are:
Gerard Reid Award for Best Book sponsored by Nielsen Book Services, and Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book
Two Little Bugs (Mark & Rowan Sommerset, Dreamboat Books), designed by Rowan Sommerset
HarperCollins Award for Best Cover
Tupaia (Joan Druett, Random House New Zealand), designed by Saskia Nicol
Mary Egan Award for Best Typography and Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book
Fleur (Fleur Sullivan, Canterbury University Press), designed by Alan Deare, AREA Design
Hachette New Zealand Award for Best Non-Illustrated Book
Janet Frame in Her Own Words (Janet Frame, Penguin New Zealand), designed by Anna Egan-Reid
Pearson Award for Best Educational Book
He Kōrero – Words Between Us: First Māori-Pākehā Conversations on Paper (Alison Jones & Kuni Jenkins, Huia New Zealand), designed by Sam Bunny
Also awarded was the Awa Press Young Designer of the Year Award, which was presented to Megan van Staden from Random House New Zealand. Some of Megan’s designs can be seen online here.