Introducing Oscar Sweetman: He runs a Youtube channel called HeHatesNovels, which he considers an ironic username because reading is his passion. Leading up to the NZCYA Book Awards, he reviewed the finalists in the YA category on his channel. After…
It’s our final installment of the NZCYA finalists before the winners are announced next week. Briar Lawry gets the downlow from her high school students on what they think of the finalists, with some insightful if not judgemental reckons. The…
Linda Tuhiwai Smith is renowned in her field – indigenous education – and now has authored a series of picture books dealing with social issues, the Whatumanawa collection, available in both te reo Māori and reo Pākehā. They are serious,…
Design is a huge part of what makes good books even better. Design is not just about looking pretty; it’s about guiding the reader’s eye, drawing attention to key features, making text readable, digestible, and accessible. Good design is almost…
It’s the penultimate instalment in our coverage of each category in the NZCYA Awards, and today we’re focusing on the finalists in the Best First Book Award category! Hear from the authors below as they tell us about their writing…
Here at The Sapling, we always love a good behind-the-scenes look into our favourite books. So, as part of our coverage of this year’s NZCYA Awards, we’ve asked the authors of the Te Kura Pounamu Award finalists to spill the…
It’s no secret that we love getting to learn and share publisher insight, so much so that we dedicate a NZCYA Awards finalist category every year to it! This year it’s the Elsie Locke Nonfiction finalists so without further ado,…
A conversation with Moira Wairama and Margaret Tolland Bee Trudgeon has a heartfelt and heartwarming kōrero with Moira Wairama and Margaret Tolland about the creation of their new book, Nani Jo me ngā Mokopuna Porohīanga—Nanny Jo and the Wild Mokopuna,…
We asked Jane Arthur, co-founder of The Sapling and co-owner/manager of GOOD BOOKS, to sell us the junior fiction finalists, and if you haven’t already read them you’ll be running to bookshops and libraries to add them to your and…
We’re thrilled to be continuing our tradition of bringing you the inside scoop with an exclusive look into the illustration process for the finalist titles in this category. Be it character designs, cover concepts, working sketches, magnificent final spreads, or…