The BWB team joins the New Zealand book industry in celebrating a Lifetime Achievement Award for Bridget Williams! Awarded at the 2021 Aotearoa Book Industry Awards, the annual award recognises those who have made an exceptional and long-term contribution to books and publishing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Judges for the award were Robbie Egan (CEO, Australian Booksellers' Association), Anahera Morehu (Kaiārahi, University of Auckland) and Peter Vial (Read NZ and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand). In announcing the award, Karen Ferns (General Manager, Harper Collins NZ) said:
'Bridget Williams has consistently redirected and expanded the conversation in Aotearoa ... Our history has been well-served by Bridget’s publishing with intelligent, well-researched books, for example with Claudia Orange and the Treaty, and the stories of Māori and women in Aotearoa ... We are, as a national society, much better for the publishing that Bridget has done over her career'.
Ferns noted the Listener Women’s Book Festival (LWBF) as an example of a book trade initiative with enduring impact: 'Back in the 1980s, believe it or not, there was a huge imbalance in the number of women writers stocked in bookshops compared to male authors. The LWBF arose from this imbalance. It was Bridget Williams and her creative vision and her preaching that vision to other women in the industry that led to that festival being created ... Other women ran with the vision and built it beyond any of our expectations but Bridget sowed the initial seed and I believe many of the book festivals of today stand on the shoulders of the LWBF which gathered in so many women in every region of the country.'
Graeme Cosslett, President of the Publishers Association of New Zealand, said:
'We are delighted to acknowledge the incredible contribution that Bridget Williams has made to publishing in Aotearoa. Her drive, energy and vision have created a powerful and long-lasting cultural legacy.’
In accepting the award, Bridget spoke to the collective activity that is publishing, noting the many people that have been an integral part of her work across various imprints over fifty years (Oxford University Press, Port Nicholson Press, Allen & Unwin NZ and Bridget Williams Books). Special acknowledgement was given by Bridget to the relationships with tangata whenua authors and advisors that have, over time, enabled her publishing on Māori history.
Congratulations Bridget!