Gecko Press Blog

Welcome to a combobulation of articles from our favourite thinkers, stories from behind the scenes, lists of good books, Gecko Press news and things that amuse us from time to time.

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Giselle Clarkson’s life as an observologist

Giselle Clarkson holding a copy of The Observologist

Hello! I’m Giselle, author and illustrator of The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions.

I’m absolutely fascinated by all the smallest details in nature. I especially love tiny invertebrates. I wrote this book because I want to share all my favourite things about them with other people.

Book signing: Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai

This weekend, illustrator Tokerau Brown visited Wellington bookshops to sign copies of Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai. Unity Books Wellington and Good Books both hosted him.

Have You Seen Dinosaur in the bookshop window?

Have You Seen Dinosaur shop window

To celebrate the release of Have You Seen Dinosaur?, author/illustrator David Barrow painted characters from the book in the window of Next Page Books in the United Kingdom.

Giselle Clarkson 2023 Arts Foundation Laureate

Giselle Clarkson with cat illustration

Giselle Clarkson, author of The Observologist (released next month), is one of nine Aotearoa artists awarded a 2023 Arts Foundation Laureate.

Giselle received the Mallinson Rendel Illustrators Award, awarded every two years to a children’s book illustrator.

To the Ice: Q&A with Thomas Tidholm & Anna-Clara Tidholm

Anna-Clara and Thomas Tidholm

We wanted to expose the children in the story to real hardships and dangers, the same ones faced by polar explorers in historical times. Some important themes were endurance, patience, the hope for survival and rescue.

Book list: Epic adventure stories

By Anna Hoek-Sims of UBS Otago, Emerging Bookseller of the Year 2023

Kia ora!

I’ve been an avid reader and a bookaholic from a very young age.

Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai: Q&A with Michaela Keeble & Tokerau Brown

Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai spread 1

This book is a true co-creation between my son Kerehi Grace, the illustrator Tokerau Brown, and me. Sometimes, as the book was being invented, Toki (Tokerau) would share a picture, and I’d get a shiver—a feeling that the picture contains life inside it, is itself alive.

The Observologist: Q&A with Giselle Clarkson

Watching insects and looking for other tiny, interesting things genuinely is one of my favourite hobbies, and the content of The Observologist is all the stuff I talk about and point out when I’m walking with my nieces and nephews. Putting it all down in a book felt like a very logical thing to do.

Book list: 21 of the best leporellos

By Mel Schuit of Let’s Talk Picture Books Mel Schuit is one of our favourite children’s book bloggers, especially for her “Let’s talk illustrators” interviews with children’s book illustrators, full of interesting questions about the process of bookmaking. This month, we are releasing our first leperello—Look by Gavin Bishop—so we are sharing Mel’s book list… Read more »

Lionel series: Q&A with Éric Veillé

Éric Veillé was born in 1976 in Laval and studied at the Duperré School in Paris. While working as an artistic director in publishing, he decided one spring day to devote himself to writing and children’s book illustration. He has since released many books, as author and illustrator, including Encyclopedia of Grannies and My Pictures… Read more »

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