Bridget Williams Books is a New Zealand

book publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

, established in 1990 by Bridget Williams.

Establishment

Williams established the company in 1990 when the company she was working for,

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

, was sold. She purchased the titles which she had developed as Allen & Unwin's managing director and started her own publishing company. Williams' vision for the company was for it to publish "good books that sell" – books with significant messages. Her personal interests in women's and Māori history, and New Zealand general history, have influenced the books that the company publishes. From 1995 to 1998, the company published under a joint imprint with Auckland University Press, before returning to independent publisher status in 1998.

Development

In 2006, the company established the Bridget Williams Publishing Trust, which applies for grants from philanthropic organisations to support publication of specific titles. For example, in 2013 the J.R. McKenzie Trust provided funding towards the publication and promotion of ''Inequality – A New Zealand Crisis.'' In 2011, Tom Rennie was hired as associate editor, and began to develop a digital publishing strategy for the company. As a result, in 2013, ''BWB Texts'' were released – a series of short texts on topics of New Zealand interest, published first as e-books and later as paperbacks. Certain titles in the series are funded by Creative New Zealand, and others are funded through the Bridget Williams Books Publishing Trust.

Awards

*In 1996, ''Redemption Songs'' won Book of the Year at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards *In 1997, ''The Story of Suzanne Aubert'' won Book of the Year at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. *In 2010, ''Encircled Lands: Te Urewera 1820–1921'' won the NZ Post Book of the Year Award. *In 2015, ''Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History'' won the Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize, and the Kōrero o Mua (History) category of the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Awards *In 2015, Bridget Williams Books won the NZ Book Industry Special Award, for the innovative publishing list and the expansion into digital publishing.

References

{{Reflist Book publishing companies of New Zealand Publishing companies established in 1990