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What the media says about Gecko Press
"The publisher did a beautiful job of putting the book [Snake and Lizard] together. The whole concept of design is different."
As the judges have pointed out, the production values of books in New Zealand don't always do justice to the works being published, but Snake and Lizard's beautiful packaging is down to its inspirational publishing by relative newcomer, Gecko Press, based in Wellington. With Gavin Bishop's meticulous and subtle images, high quality paper and elegant dust jacket, Gecko have produced a book with the highest of standards.
At the award ceremony Bishop said Gecko is likely to change the landscape of children's publishing in New Zealand within two years.
Having read a number of their other publications I suspect that it is unlikely to take this long.
Julia Marshall, Gecko's founder, editor and sometime translator, said their aim was to "publish award winners from around the world. The Margaret Mahys and Joy Cowleys of the rest of the world".
Their statement of intent - "Curiously good books from around the world" - reflects this ambition and their current list is adventurous
and dynamic. It also contains a number of children's books in translation, something relatively uncommom in our Anglophone culture.
The list so far includes award-winning authors from Germany, Sweden, France, Austria and now, of course, New Zealand. Children's publishing in New Zealand has been crying out for this standard of craftsmanship for some time.
Catriona Ferguson, Sunday Star-Times, June 2008
"[Gecko's] production values are exemplary.[...]They are the most beautiful items, just aesthetically. The paper stock, especially in Guji-Guji, is exquisite. The colour, everything about them – the design – it’s just beautiful. [...] there is a different quality to the story making or the substance of the story making in the European books than there is in antipodean or Anglosaxon ones. I can’t put my finger on what it is a lot of the time. [...] They seem to deal with sort of the verities in a way that contemporary English speaking literature doesn’t."
Kate de Goldi Saturday morning with Kim Hill, Radio New Zealand, National, July 2007
"I've always thought not nearly enough English versions of European children's books make their way here, so it's good to see a local publisher opening its doors."
Tessa Duder, Australian Women's Weekly Reading Room, February 2007
"A recent and exciting event in children's literature has been the arrival of the boutique publishing house, Gecko Press. Kiwi Julia Marshall was living in Sweden when she realised that, while Margaret Mahy and other internationally acclaimed children's writers could be read in many languages, few European best sellers were translated into English. When she returned to New Zealand she founded Gecko, and in 2005 published her first book, the illustrated Donkeys by Adelheid Dahimene and Heide Stollinger. It sold out.
Gecko Press has translated and published nine books in 18 months, specialising in "curiously good books by well established authors and illustrators which are winners of international awards".
Books, like Ulf Stark's My Friend Percy's Magical Gym Shoes and Can You Whistle, Johanna? as well as Ulf Nilsson's All The Dear Little Animals deal frankly with delicate situations, devoid of sentimentality or sensationalism. The matter-of-fact European sensibility is a welcome and enriching addition to children's literature."
Discoveries in translation, The Herald on Sunday, Dec 2006
Television interview with Julia Marshall, Gecko Press
Follow link and click on 'New publishing company for kid's books' under 'Related video'. |
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