Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

A&U celebrates 25 years of children’s publishing

Allen & Unwin is celebrating 25 years of publishing books for children and young adults in 2013.

A&U children’s books director Liz Bray told Books+Publishing that the publisher will mark the anniversary with parties for its staff in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as running competitions and sharing insights into how its books are made through social media. A&U is also hoping to work with retailers to create 25th anniversary merchandise and displays.

A&U launched its children’s publishing list in October 1988, publishing three titles under the ‘Little Ark’ imprint: Dear Robin: Letters to Robin Klein by Robin Klein and two wildlife photography books, Bush Animals and Baby Animals, by Kathie Atkinson. The A&U children’s team now publishes around 85 books each year.

Bray said the A&U children’s publishing division had just one staff member in 1988, Rosalind Price, who worked for A&U between 1987 and 2007. The children’s division has since grown to 18 staff, including three publishers, three commissioning editors and four editors, as well as a marketing and rights team. And while the A&U children’s team has traditionally been based in Melbourne, and remains ‘embedded in Melbourne’s culture’, Bray said a number of staff are now based in A&U’s offices in Sydney.

Bray said that A&U published books under the Little Ark imprint for around 10 years. ‘The idea for “ark” came because animals are often chosen as symbols for children’s book lists and an ark encompasses them all while also implying diversity, inclusion and buoyancy,’ said Bray. ‘As our list expanded to include more and more books for older readers and young adults, it was felt that “little” was not an appropriate brand for the entire list and we added another imprint simply called “Ark”. Our 1997 catalogue had a flip format with Little Ark on one side and Ark on the other. Eventually the imprints were absorbed under the Allen & Unwin banner and our 1999 catalogue was simply headed “Allen & Unwin books for children and teenagers”.’

While Bray said it is difficult to pick out just a few highlights from 25 years of publishing, she said working with Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks on Fox, published in 2000, was ‘very special’, as was publishing Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia in 2008. Bray said there are other titles that also felt more special in hindsight, such as Tashi, the first book in the ‘Tashi’ series by Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble, which was published in 1995. A new ‘Tashi’ book, Once Tashi Met a Dragon will be published this year.

Bray said welcoming new publishers to the A&U children’s team was also among the publisher’s milestones, with each new publisher bringing ‘new creativity and an expansion of titles’ to the publishing program. Erica Wagner joined A&U as children’s publisher in 2000, and more recently, Anna McFarlane joined the team in 2010.

To join in the birthday celebrations, visit the A&U Facebook page here.

 

Tags:

Category: Local news