By Andrea McKay AE, President
Kia ora koutou
My first month as president has gone by ridiculously fast, as has 2026, don’t you think? At the university where I work, we’re now in the busy season in the run-up to December graduation and the start of the new year, so I’m juggling a lot of projects. I hope those of you with a lot on your plates can take some time to enjoy the sunshine when you can.
This time last year, like many of you, I was concerned about the future of our only editing and publishing course at Whitireia and WelTec after the announcement that its central Wellington campus, Te Auaha, was to close. As the coordinator of IPEd’s Student Prize for the past 3 years, I’d made it my mission to broaden the prize package to be less Australia focused and more inclusive for a winner from this side of the Tasman. So, the prospect of not having any more New Zealand entries made me very sad.
However, the Publishers Association of New Zealand stepped in early this year to back the course, and I am delighted to see that it has a fantastic new name: the Aotearoa New Zealand School of Publishing. They’re now based at the Massey University campus in Wellington, and this year’s course will graduate on 9 November. EdANZ past president Deborah Shaw and I spoke to the class in September about IPEd and the Student Prize. It was so lovely to see how big and enthusiastic the group was, and to field so many interesting questions from the students. I hope we encouraged a few to join IPEd and enter the prize. I wish them well in their future careers.
This month we have a wonderful article from Susi Bailey about her journey into editing and how it’s come full circle. It’s been so interesting reading about our members in the past few issues of Gatherings, and we’re always keen to hear from more of you. Let us know if you have a story you’d like to tell by emailing our newsletter coordinator, Helen, at edanz.newsletter@iped-editors.org.
Noho ora mai
edanz.president@iped-editors.org
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