Q& A with Peter Goes about Timeline

Twenty years ago, Gecko Press published Timeline: A Visual History of Our World. It became one of our bestselling books worldwide, a staple in bookstores like the British Museum in London, and generated followup books including Timeline: Science and Technology. From the Big Bang to the present day, illustrated scenes tell the history of our… Read more »

Book list: Gecko Press books in te reo Māori

What a delight to receive the Picture Book Award for Titiro / Look at the New Zealand Children and Young Adult book awards ceremony this August. This board book by Gavin Bishop began life as a wordless leporello for babies and developed into a book of first words that takes te ao Māori as its… Read more »

Q&A with Olivier Tallec about Is It Asleep?

        Olivier Tallec was born in Brittany, France. After graduating from the École Supérieure d’Arts Appliqués Duperré in Paris, he travelled extensively and now lives and works in Paris. He has illustrated over 60 books for children, along with his work as both author and illustrator. He has two books with Gecko… Read more »

A story that travels across oceans and generations

By Rachel Lawson The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate has the kind of publishing history you find with Joy Cowley’s most enduring stories. The tale of the fierce little woman who walked up and down the jetty playing her bagpipes to the seagulls was originally published in 1984 as a school reader. Gecko… Read more »

In the studio with David Barrow

Have You Seen Dinosaur and Have You Seen Elephant sitting on a table.

David Barrow is author and illustrator of Have You Seen Elephant? and Have You Seen Dinosaur?  Come in to his studio… My studio is at the bottom of my garden. It’s built from an old outbuilding previously used by Kettering shoemakers to make shoes from home. It’s warm, has internet, and is my happy place…. Read more »

A Lot of Silly: Illustrated Q&A with David Barrow

David Barrow has an MA from the Cambridge School of Art, where he now teaches. His first book, Have You Seen Elephant?, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize, longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize, and received a Dutch Silver Pencil award. It has also been translated into 11 languages. Barrow won the Sebastian Walker Award and has since written and illustrated many picture books and illustrated a children’s novel.

Exploring Whānau and Words: An Author Interview with Gavin Bishop

Gavin Bishop has created four board books for the very young that introduce first words and concepts through a lens of whānau and our place in the world. The direct gaze of child and adult faces draws the reader into each illustration, while single words spark conversation about objects, emotions, relationships and more. The series… Read more »

Sounds Good!: Q&A with Ole Könnecke & Hans Könnecke

Ole Könnecke was born in 1961 and spent his childhood in Sweden. He now lives in Germany and has produced over 30 books, several of which have won international awards. Hans Könnecke is an award-winning composer, instrumentalist and music producer for film,and theatre, who studied composition at the Academy for Music and Theater in Munich…. Read more »

Hilary Tapper on creating a beach storybook

Hilary Tapper holding a copy of At the Bach

Kia ora! Hilary here, the illustrator of At the Bach.

Creating this book was a really special process for me—I got to focus on creating a book about the delight of ‘baches’ in New Zealand culture.