Onion Origins - AMcF

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the tenth edition of Onion Origins.

Impossible possibilities

I find it hard, almost impossible, to explain how I ended up in children’s books because no matter how I try to tell the story, the road from being a some-time childcare worker, a disenchanted actor and Dramatic Arts graduate living in Adelaide, to that of a publisher of children’s books living in Sydney is not linear. In fact, it seems kind of improbable when I look at it on paper, although the reality of my groaning book shelves, overflowing inbox and occasional parking tickets, reminds me that, yes, it is indeed true. That earnest and vocationally challenged person in Adelaide did indeed finally find her way into the job she wanted.

The first person to ever interview me for a publishing job was incredibly influential. I didn’t get the job, but my interviewer was kind and passionate about what she did, and it ignited a real passion in me to work in the industry.

The second job I applied for was at Allen & Unwin’s Melbourne office as an editorial assistant, assisting the non-fiction adult books publisher. I was keen for a job in children’s books, but any job in the industry would have made me happy. At the same time I applied for a position as a junior trainee assistant children’s book editor in Sydney. I felt the Sydney position was unlikely and I anticipated that I would be moving to Melbourne to be an editorial assistant.

But I did get the job as a trainee editor - my first job in publishing. And so, I thought it was goodbye to Allen & Unwin and off I set to make my home in Sydney and my career at HarperCollins Publishers.

I spent five interesting years at HarperCollins learning to be an editor and then ten exciting years at Pan Macmillan where I ended up as the publisher of children’s books. It seems ridiculous to summarise those years so swiftly here, because they were fantastic and hugely effecting, however, even though I loved my job, the Dramatic Arts graduate still lurked and when the opportunity to work for an independent film production company arose, I took the leap. I spent the next two years helping produce an animated short, as well as developing other projects, all of which was a great experience.

Me, producer Garth Nix & writer, director and animator Jonathan Nix
at the 2011 IF Award ceremony. The Missing Key won Best Short Animation.

But as the film neared completion, my publishing instincts started twitching again. I was irresistibly drawn back to the world of books, but not sure where I should go or where I could work.

Then, in 2010, at a party during Adelaide Writer’s Week, I met A&U’s chairman Patrick Gallagher. Patrick and I discussed all matters of publishing and children’s books, though in my mind it was just an enjoyable conversation – the actual prospect of me joining Allen & Unwin didn’t seem possible.

A few weeks’ later, after more pleasant phone calls and lovely meetings with Robert Gorman and Liz Bray, the impossible was starting to feel perhaps possible. And I liked these people, this company – but would they want a children’s publisher in Sydney when the rest of the publishing and editorial children’s team was in Melbourne? And would they want me?

During yet another conversation, the possibility of working for Allen & Unwin finally felt real and I was assured that it definitely could work – there could be a publisher based in Sydney with regular meetings in Melbourne... And I was thinking, ‘Wow, this job sounds awesome, just what I’m looking for, with this great company, and terrific people, and that idea I have about a book, maybe I can look into it …’ And I was so busy thinking about all of this, I kind of missed the moment when I was actually asked if I was interested. Please don’t tell anyone that my pause on that day in April 2010 wasn’t strategic, I wasn’t playing hard to get. In fact, I was lucky the question was repeated and I was able to answer: ‘Yes.’

So after seventeen years, numerous publishing industry positions, two multi-national companies and a side-trip into independent film production, I finally work at Allen & Unwin. I count myself incredibly lucky to be working with such a wonderful team, which, by the way, includes the very first person ever to interview me.

- Anna McFarlane, Publisher

Onion Origins - LW

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the ninth edition of Onion Origins.

A happy surprise

When I was at school I loved to read, liked writing and hated maths. At uni I did a Bachelor of Media in Writing, which luckily required no maths skills whatsoever. While I was studying I had the idea that I’d like to work as a journalist so I did some work experience at newspapers and magazines, but when I graduated there weren’t any full-time jobs in journalism so I accepted a job as a marketing and publicity co-ordinator with a local book distributor. I learnt a huge amount while I was there and discovered that the publicity side of working on the books was what I enjoyed most. My boss had previously worked at Allen & Unwin and after hearing her talk about A&U, I thought that might be somewhere I’d like to work one day.

After two years at the book distributor I decided I wanted a change, and I left for London with a working visa and not nearly enough warm clothes. When I arrived I was fortunate enough to be offered a job as a publicist for a small publisher based in London. Before I started with the publisher I went to the London Book Fair as a volunteer. I still remember how big it felt when I walked through the doors, and how insignificant I felt in comparison. I had a great time there and met some lovely people, the most lovely of all being Bridget Shine, the Director of the Independent Publisher’s Guild, who was endlessly patient and kind.

I lived in London for a year and then decided I missed the sun and blue sky too much to stay another year. So I travelled around Europe a little before I moved back to Sydney where I was offered a job as a publicist at HarperCollins on a twelve-month maternity-cover contract. As the year was coming to an end, I applied for a job as the Children’s and Young Adult Publicist at Allen & Unwin. I had always loved children’s books and had worked on some great children’s and YA titles while I was at HarperCollins. Lo and behold, a happy surprise: I got the job, and I was delighted.

I started at A&U the week of our annual sales conference and those first few days are still a blur, but after being here for just over a year now, I still feel as happy as I did that first week. Allen & Unwin is filled with kind, funny, generous and supportive people who all LOVE books. The children’s team are endlessly hard-working, kind, patient and best of all, fun! It’s been a fantastic twelve months and I’ve worked on some amazing books with some incredible authors – including the fabulous Libba Bray. Here we are at the recent Sydney Writer’s Festival.

I can’t wait to see what the next twelve months will hold!

 

- Lara Wallace, Publicist

Onion Origins - JW

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the eighth edition of Onion Origins.

Finding my people

I was a sporty, bookish kind of girl, and at the end of my first year of university I realised that Accountancy was not for me. Accountancy was so not for me that I had to leave the state. 

So I moved to Sydney. The only qualifications I had were one year of an abandoned Accountancy degree and a one-week bartending course. Despite this lack of experience, I quickly secured three waitressing jobs. One at a restaurant in St Leonards where I quit before the end of the first shift, one at the brand new Powerhouse Museum where I spilled a tray of champagne all over myself on opening night, and one at the Pitt Street Pizza Hut where the pay was $4.25 an hour. The actual bonuses were the occasional free pizza and stolen bacon bits from the salad bar, and the unexpected bonus happened only once, when I left work and found myself outside Town Hall Station accidentally face-to-face with the Queen. There was a barricade between me and her majesty, but it was flimsy.

After three months I asked for a raise and when denied it, I quit in order to sell encyclopedias door-to-door in Queensland. Yes. Encyclopedias. Door-to-door. In Queensland. My friends tried to talk me out of it. But I was determined. I'd never been to Queensland. And encyclopedias were books, right? I started in Ipswich, then went to Toowoomba, then Roma, then Chinchilla, Dalby, Kingaroy, Gimpy, Noosa, Maryborough, Childers, Bunderberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Innisfail, Cairns, Port Douglas, then back down to Gladstone. We were young and reckless and it was Queensland and we had adventures. Many adventures. But three months was enough, so in Gladstone I boarded a late-night bus bound for Sydney and wept quietly every time 'Better Be Home Soon' played over the coach stereo. Crowded House was on repeat for the entire 17-hour trip. Quite a lot of quiet weeping.

So, seeking less adventure, I took a job in the watch department of a Prouds Jewellery store. We sold Longines. We sold Seiko. We sold Swatches. Sometimes there were sailors. There were time-cards and we had to clock in and clock out. They were not my people.

When I returned to Melbourne, most of my friends were finishing degrees and taking their first 'career' jobs. I knew that I didn't want to be an accountant, and I didn't want to work in hospitality, and I didn't want to work in retail. But what did I want? I just wanted to read books and talk about them and that wasn't a job, was it? Oh? Publishing.

Investigations revealed that the trick to getting a job in publishing was to know someone who could help get one's foot in the door at a publishing house. But I didn't know what a publishing house was, and I didn't know anyone who worked in publishing, and I didn't have any idea how to even find the door, let alone get a foot in it.

Eventually I went for a job as typesetter (even though I didn't know what typesetting was) at a company that designed and printed advertising material. I didn't get the typesetting job because most people who applied were already doing a typesetting apprenticeship. But unexpectedly I did get a job as a proofreader. I had no proofreading experience and I suspect I only landed the job because the HR manager was sick that day and the Boss interviewed me and we talked about books and he was impressed that I had lasted a whole year in accountancy - he'd only lasted six weeks.

I was incredibly fortunate to work with three tremendously knowledgeable professional proofreaders who taught me many wonderful things about words and how to proofread them, and proofreading marks and layout and typography and fonts - and that the dictionary was my very best friend.

After a year though, I remembered that I really really wanted to go to university. I wanted to go to university because I wanted to learn all the things. I wanted to go to university because I wanted my parents to be proud of me. I wanted to go to university because the walls of the Old Arts building were so solid and impressive and the grass on the South Lawn was so green and inviting. I wanted to go to university because that meant having a student card - so everything would be cheaper.

And I knew a little bit more about the world by then. Many of my friends had done Arts degrees, and I realised that I was foolish not to have done Arts the first time around. Why had I done Accountancy instead of Arts? Who ever knows. Well, I know, but I'm not telling. Okay, I'll whisper it. I didn't know what Arts was. I thought it was painting. There, so now the secret is out. Let us not speak of it again. After all, I learned A LOT selling encyclopedias and that probably would never have happened if I had chosen Arts over Accountancy.

I was excited about my first day of classes. I knew in my heart that the other Arts students would be my people. I was so excited that I missed my first two lectures because I was overcome with nerves and vomiting on the banks of the Yarra River. My boyfriend tried to calm me down enough to stop the vomiting but when that failed, he went to my first two lectures for me. And took notes.

Oh how I loved studying Arts. I loved it. And then, three years later it was finished, but I didn't want it to be finished so I enrolled in an Honours degree. And I tried very hard to do it full time. I really tried, but I needed money and found it was easier to survive if I studied part-time and worked the night shift as a ward assistant in the delivery suite at the Mercy Hospital. Every night there were new babies born, there were exhausted mothers and exuberant fathers, and there were delivery suites to clean, and delivery trolleys to ... wrangle. I was sleep-deprived and I had a nauseous-linen allowance, but I had enough money.

More than enough. I discovered that I had enough money to go overseas and why not do that instead of finishing my Honours degree. No reason I could think of. So I did. I lived in London for six months, and sailed around the Greek Islands with five friends for two weeks, and saw the Acropolis and admired the pebbled beaches of Nice and went to a casino in Monaco and camped in a thunderstorm on the side of a hill in Florence and discovered that Venice was real and got a hire-car wedged between buildings in the pedestrian precinct of Verona and almost acquired a taste for Guinness in a lovely old wooden pub in the south of Ireland where a Dutch couple told me I spoke very good English for an Australian.

And then I came home. And went back to uni. And needed a job. Again. A friend helped me secure employment in the mailroom of a law firm while I finished my Honours year (okay, sometimes I was also the tea lady - but I infinitely preferred the mail room with its fancy mail train system and the whizzbang of the new photocopiers). And then I was done. Degree completed. And I never ever in my life wanted to study again.

So there I was, a somewhat over-qualified mailroom attendant, surrounded by lawyers. And I still didn't know anyone in publishing. I sat the public service test and made it to the last round of interviews and might have been successful had I not just read The First Stone by Helen Garner. The question for the group interview was about how best to handle a sexual-harassment complaint from a female student against a male housemaster. I had PLENTY of ideas about that.

Then my (musician) partner thought he was interested in a job at the Australian Music Examinations Board, but on enquiry he discovered that the position description was not for him, so I applied for it. After all, they had a music publishing program. Perhaps this was the door I had been looking for? Almost, but not quite. It was a wonderful job and I worked with fabulous, dedicated people, but it was not book publishing. Clearly.

And then one day, an acquaintance invited me to a launch of Visible Ink. I didn't know what Visible Ink was, but I didn't have anything else to do that day, so I went.

It turned out that Visible Ink was the anthology of writing from the students of the RMIT Professional Writing and Editing course. That afternoon, in the Lounge on Swanston Street, I truly found my people. There they were. All in one place. And even though I had promised myself I would never ever in my life study again, I enrolled in the RMIT course and I loved every minute of it. Every single minute. And in the second half of my second year I did the Practical Placement subject at a children's books publishing house.

Ten years earlier I had realised I wanted to work in publishing. Eighteen months earlier I had found my people in a bar on Swanston Street and since then had spent countless hours with them, talking books and writing and short stories and poetry and ideas and editing and publishing and works-in-progress. And life and art and the creative process. And now I was doing the first day of my work experience placement. I stood on Gertrude Street outside Black Dog Books. I took a deep breath. Here, finally, was the door. In I walked.

And then ten years ago, I had the great fortune of being swept into the House of Onion on the wings of Margo Lanagan's heartbreaking short story Singing My Sister Down from Black Juice. Ten years ago.* Ten tremendously rewarding years.

- Jodie Webster, Commissioning Editor

* TEN YEARS! Ten years of working in this wonderful House with so many brilliant creators and colleagues. Ten years of being endlessly inspired, delighted and  encouraged. And incredibly proud of the wonderful books we have produced together. Thank you all for being so extraordinarily fabulous.

The Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship

Dear Readers,

We have news. Very exciting news!

On Saturday, at the Sydney Writers' Festival the recipient of the 2013/2014 Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship was announced.

And we are thrilled to bits and pieces that the winner is our very own Susannah Chambers.

Yes! It's true. And it is the bestest news.

Named after distinguished literary editor Beatrice Davis, and awarded biennially, the Fellowship is the 'highest national recognition and reward for the contribution editors make to Australian writing and publishing'. The Highest National Recognition. One million HOORAYS!

But wait, there's more. The Fellowship winner is awarded an airfare to the USA, and living and accommodation expenses for three months to complete a professional development research project at a range of US publishing houses. Yes, dear readers - this means Susannah will be going to NYC! Her mission will be to 'examine young adult editing and publishing at a time of fascinating growth and transition'.

We Onions are bursting with pride.

Alas. We are unable to bestow our congratulations on her in person. The Fellowship was announced in Sydney on Saturday. On Sunday, Susannah left the country. On a lovely long holiday. If she were here, we would definitely be plying her with cake - and perhaps a small glass of sparkling wine (or two).

So for now we must be content to send our congratulations all across the seas, and when she returns - there will be celebrating. Much celebrating!

And then there was cake...

We have an announcement. A very important announcement.

We have a new cake-maker in the House!

Yes, it's true. A new cake-maker. And she has certainly wowed us with her cake-making.

Herewith an Upside-down Gluten-free Quince Cake with Rose Geranium Leaves, & Pomegranate Garnish accompanied by Quince Cream with Rosewater*

Yes. Wow.

We think that the artistry of this cake, the colour palette and the mixed media employed make it clear that it was made by our lovely new designer, who henceforth shall be known as the clever Creative Type.

The cake was to celebrate MT's birthday. You may recall that we farewelled MT with many fine foods last year. Happily she enjoyed our offerings so much that she has returned to the House.

Welcome, Creative Type! Happy Birthday, Marie!

* My that's a mouthful. Many extremely tasty mouthfuls.

Onion Origins - CS

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the seventh edition of Onion Origins - from another Onion in our Sydney office.

Finding my calling...

I left High School clueless as what to do next, after a few tries in various not-quite-rights jobs, I found myself working at The Bookshop Darlinghurst.

It was soon very apparent to me that I had found my calling, being paid to be surrounded by books, talk about books, sell books! But, The Bookshop Darlinghurst did not sell any kids books; I would have to wait seven years before being able to re-ignite my enthusiasm for them.

I grew up in The Bookshop Darlinghurst, and over seven years figured out that what I really wanted to do was be a Sales Rep at Allen & Unwin. A&U had the best books, the best reps, the best authors, the best reputation and I felt that it was the place for me.

However, no one ever leaves A&U, so I had to wait! While I waited for a position to come up, I asked the fabulous Sandy Weir and Michael White what I could do to get a job at A&U. They advised me to get more experience in the more mass market side of book selling, i.e leave my comfortable Indie world and see the other side!

As luck would have it, Borders were opening up their first Sydney store, and somehow I got a job as their Marketing Manager for Macquarie Centre North Ryde (still not sure how that happened)! Going from Darlinghurst to North Ryde was a bit of a culture shock!

While at Borders I rediscovered my love of children's books (beyond Star Wars), I was in charge of the Kids Book Department and making sure it always looked great, no easy task when parents used it as a babysitting service while they shopped! The A&U list was always the best and I resolved even more that I had to get a job there.

I was there when Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban came out. It was so amazing to be part of this huge experience and it was a lot of fun! Later at A&U, I got to see how much hard work Liz Bray and the team did to get Harry out there!

Finally, someone left the A&U sales team, and I did everything I could to get an interview and the job, and I succeeded!

Selling the kids list to these incredible, dedicated booksellers was and remains a huge part of what I love at A&U. I have also been lucky enough to meet some of favourite authors, David Levithan, Neil Gaiman, Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix, and many others.

I consider myself to be an honorary part of the Children's Marketing Team and although I love our adult books, I probably love the kids list just a little bit more.

Ten years later I am still here, no longer a Rep, but still in sales, working in a job I love, for a company that is everything that I thought it would be. I am a lucky man.

- Chris Sims, National Field Sales Manager

Onion Origins - EW

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the sixth edition of Onion Origins.

When the time is right...


I almost came to Allen & Unwin four years before I actually did ...

I was working as a commissioning editor at Penguin Books when Rosalind Price called me. I had a wonderful meeting with her - it was so exciting. She had a copy of the groundbreaking picture book FOX on her mantelpiece, and we met at the trestle table that she had made herself in the upstairs room of the Rathdowne Street office. Allen & Unwin felt like a rush of fresh air, where creative, freewheeling, risk-taking publishing (what other kind is there, in fact?) blossomed.

I had started my publishing career as a trainee editor at Penguin in 1988 and it felt like home. I had many dear friends and strong author relationships, but I felt I was losing touch with what I loved the most - the hands on making of books. Rosalind offered me a dream job, but I wasn't ready yet to make the leap.

A couple of years later, the time was right ... I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start up a new children's list for a small independent publisher, Duffy & Snellgrove. That same year, 1999, I also spent three months in the US on the Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship - a terrifying and intoxicating experience! But on my return, after publishing the first 5 books on my fledgling Silverfish list, it became clear that Silverfish wasn't going to work out as planned. Unlike big publishers who have buffers, tiny independents need their books to sell quickly and in large numbers if they are to survive (unless they have an alternate income stream to cover the establishment phase). When it was clear that Silverfish needed another home in order to keep going, I rang Rosalind. In her kind, wise and practical way, she said, 'Do you want to come to us?' That moment was simultaneously a lifeline and a second chance.

So I started at A&U on Valentine's Day in the year 2000. Rosalind and I shared her trestle table for the first few weeks - about two feet of table surface each. I felt saved and also in debt! I wanted so much to prove myself, but really I was starting again (I even changed my name ...). Of course, it takes time to find your feet as a publisher - you have to be daring, experiment, fail and try again. It took a while, but always I felt supported by Rosalind and A&U. The working atmosphere was a revelation to me - there were no politics! We just helped each other as needed and trusted each other to do our jobs well. And there was the singing - a brilliant way of bringing the team together.

I feel blessed by having had the best publishers in the business as my mentors and am eternally grateful to them. Having worked for big, small and medium sized companies, what I value the most is the sense of community we have in the children's publishing world - all the laughing, crying, plotting and planning we do - the creativity of the authors and illustrators, editors, designers and the myriad people who make the books happen and then support them out in the world - that's what really matters, and will be our legacy.

- Erica Wagner, Publisher

Onion Origins - KR

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the fifth edition of Onion Origins - this one's from an Onion in our Sydney office.

A very sensible plan...

I left high school with the very sensible plan of making lots of money and retiring early (I was, of course, willing to vary this to 'marrying rich and not working' if the option were to present itself), so I began my career as an auditor at a very large accounting firm. It didn't take me very long to realise that perhaps I wasn't quite as shallow and money hungry as I originally believed myself to be* and I handed in my notice so I could follow my heart and do something I really cared about.

At this point I stalled. It was all very nice to grandly declare that I wanted to do something 'that mattered' but what did that even mean? So with nothing better to do, I continued my business degree, supporting myself with a vast range of jobs (the most unusual being the small stint I had as a turf layer), whilst waiting for that light-bulb moment when my dream career would present itself to me. In a moment of desperation I even tried a self-help book which told me to visualise how I would ideally like to spend my time. I imagined myself sitting in a little room surrounded by books reading all day. Upon reflection perhaps I should have taken the results a little more seriously, but at the time I declared all self-help books to be useless, threw it across the room and curled up with a copy of my favourite comfort book, Pride and Prejudice (and I admit vaguely revisiting my idea of marrying rich - oh Mr Darcy, why don't you exist in the real world?).

In 2001 I was following the path of so many other 20-somethings looking for meaning in life by backpacking through Europe. In Norway I met a family member of a friend who took me to her office. It was at a book publisher called Cappelen Damm. I stepped inside and was overwhelmed with how much I loved it. As I was walking along softly stroking the books and occasionally even sniffing them, it hit me that perhaps this was the future career that I was so desperately seeking.

From then on I determinedly worked at getting into publishing. I enrolled in a Diploma of Publishing and Editing and subscribed to the Weekly Book Newsletter which my research told me was the bible of the Australian Publishing world. I also read that the best way to get into publishing was through reception, so I got a job as a receptionist in an unrelated company to get experience.

Then began the process of applying for any and every job that was in book publishing (there weren't many, but I applied for them all!). My first interview was with Allen & Unwin in the Sydney Office. I didn't get the job. But they were lovely and told me they would hold onto my resume in case something else came up - obviously I thought they just said that to make me feel better. Imagine my surprise when they actually did call me I was interviewed for another job. I also didn't get that one. When I was called in for a third role I began to suspect they were just messing with me. But I went for it anyway, and after two interviews I was employed in the Publicity department, which it turns out is a brilliant place to learn a lot about publishing and be involved with all the other departments.

It didn't take me very long to realise that it was the children's and young adult books that I really loved. So I started unnecessarily attending the children's marketing meetings, reviewing their books and basically doing anything I could to make sure the children's department knew who I was. My plan worked, and when a role came up in the children's marketing department I convinced the children's director Liz Bray that I was the right person for the role and here I am.

*Please note I do not think that accountants are shallow or money hungry. Many of my best friends are wonderful, creative and passionate people and are also accountants, but they also didn't choose the career for the sole purpose of making money, they actually liked it.

**Hard to believe I know, but remember those ads where the accountant gets all excited when they help get you a good tax return, some people really are like that!

- Kristy Rizzo, Children's Product Assistant

Onion Origins - ALG

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the fourth edition of Onion Origins.

So, tell us a little about yourself...

I didn't believe my mother when she threatened to confiscate all my books. I was sixteen years old and, according to her, I wasn't concentrating enough on school work and piano practice (there may have been some truth to that, but that is entirely beside the point). I couldn't understand her position at all. I was reading too much? (A real rebel, huh?)

But I came home from school one day and my bookshelves were empty. All my books were gone, even the picture books!

For two weeks, I scoured the house searching for my abducted friends. And when I found them, well, I decided that was something Mum didn't need to know. My books were my trusted companions; they contained worlds and characters I could visit anytime I needed my spirits lifted. I hadn't understood how important books were to me until they were taken away.

When I was at uni, I realised I wanted my studies to have more to do with fiction, rather than just having to read prescribed books to research the next essay. So I transferred to Homesglen to do their Professional Writing and Editing course. It didn't take long for me to realise that I wasn't going to be a writer, but I still wanted very much to be around books.

I applied for job after job, and finally got my start with the A.M.E.B. as an editorial assistant. From there, I went to Macmillan Education and was a publishing assistant for three and a half years (I discovered that my love for books does not extend to secondary school text books). I was ready for a new job, a new challenge. My friend, who was also job hunting, was scouring the advertisements in the Weekly Book Newsletter and when she saw the ad for Publishing Operations Manager at Allen & Unwin she emailed it my way. I hesitated only long enough to ensure there were no spelling or grammatical errors in my CV. I really wanted this job.

When I got the call from Liz Bray asking me in for an interview with her and Eva Mills, I tried not to sound too keen when I said yes. And then I did a little happy dance.

I practiced for the interview. I'm not kidding. My best friend works in HR (handy) so we did mock interviews. Truly. Mainly to lessen my chances of me freezing up when asked, 'So, tell us a bit about yourself.' (Yes, at a different job interview, I didn't have an answer prepared for that. The silence was a little awkward, but really, how do you answer that question? It's so general. Is it so hard to be specific - what exactly do prospective employers want to know about me?!)

Anyway, this time I was prepared for that particular question... and Liz and Eva didn't ask it (thank goodness!). They both made me feel completely relaxed, and when I left the office, I realised I'd even enjoyed the interview (that was a first). I also knew that I really, really wanted the job.

A week later I was back for another interview, this time with Erica Wagner (she didn't ask me that question either - I was loving this place even more). She was very welcoming, and it confirmed my sense of 'rightness' about the job. And then there was the final hurdle: 'the test' with the then Publishing Operations Manager who was leaving to study law. Could I follow her instructions to create the Editor Workload Report in Excel?

In April, I'll have been with Allen & Unwin for three years (OMG) and the Editor Workload Report is only one of the many duties I do to keep all our systems running smoothly and wrangle the publishers and editors to keep all the books on track. One of the great perks of this position is that I know when the manuscripts will be delivered. So if I can't wait to read the next book in an exciting series and I know the manuscript is in-house, well... let's just say I'm really looking forward to the delivery of the next title in the Elementals series.

The most challenging thing about this job: my office is surrounded by books and every day I have to fight the urge to simply read. NEVER start reading Sea Hearts during your lunch break.

You will spend the rest of your day wanting to know what happens next, and that will torment you until 5.30-6 pm when you can pick up the book again, and then you'll trip over your feet because you'll be so busy reading while walking to the station, that you won't see the slight bump in the footpath, and then you'll stay up all night to finish it... and I think I understand why my mother confiscated my books (I'm not saying she was right).

- Aline Le Guen, Publishing Operations Manager

Onion Origins - HR

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the third edition of Onion Origins.

A Series of Fortunate Events

In 2006 I enrolled in the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT because, after an enjoyable but slightly aimless Arts degree in English and Cinema Studies, supported by a career based in swimming pools and video shops, it had finally clicked that editing would rather suit me.

One of my classes was Non-Fiction Writing - taught by then-A&U adult-publishing legend Andrea McNamara - which I decided to take because I was writing a thesis interpreting Paul Cox's films through a Lacanian lens and I fondly imagined this might become a book relevant to many people if only they knew it.

Andrea soon dampened my illusions of becoming the foremost Coxian academic expert via trade publishing, but she did take me on as a placement student because she observed I was 'picky', which is possibly only ever a compliment in the context of editing.

While I was on placement, Andrea generously loaned me to the children's team whenever an extra pair of hands or eyes were needed. Besides learning the finer points of writing readers notes to accompany the beautiful novels underway at the time, such as The Killer's Tears by Anne-Laure Bondoux , it soon became apparent that this was an office that would enthusiastically consume any kitchen experiment of a sweet nature - so all in all the situation was happily relevant to my interests on a number of fronts.

And then a fortunate series of events occurred: Sheralyn, the Office Manager, went overseas so I was given the responsibility of wrangling the reception desk, and then Julia, the Publishing Assistant, needed a Girl Friday to do all of the things, and then Eva went on maternity leave so a more permanent set of hands and eyes were required and, well, I was already there busily undertaking in-depth discussions with The Tall Designer and the Smaller Publisher about how to best represent poo (or not) on the cover of Barry Jonsberg's The Dog That Dumped on My Doona. 

So with pickiness and cakes and opinions about poo on covers, I inveigled my way into being part of the furniture at the House of Onion and have since worked on far too many brilliant children's and YA books to ever consider academic monographs again!

Thank you, Andrea - and I think the Onions would agree you were right, as always, about recommending this latest Excellent Cake recipe - Pistachio & Lime Syrup Cake.

- Hilary Reynolds, Editor (aka The Cake-Maker Virtuoso)

Onion Origins - EM

In celebration of our 25th anniversary of children's publishing we are delighted to present the second edition of Onion Origins.

Once upon a bookstore (in Oxford)…

I had finished four years of a science degree majoring in psychology, with no idea of what I would do next, when my sister and I decided to backpack across Europe for six months.

On a cold and rainy day in Oxford, we stumbled across the university bookstore and gratefully pushed our way inside. Browsing the shelves, I found my way to the young adult section and spotted The Changeover by Margaret Mahy. The one with this cover:

I have no idea what attracted me. (Maybe it was the line ‘A Supernatural Romance’, I’ve always been a sucker for a bit of URST!) I’d always been a keen reader, but ‘literature’ was a distraction to a science student, so instead for five years I’d worked my way through various genres – science fiction, fantasy, crime – and had just started to dip my toe back into children’s fiction (which I’d never really left – those Noel Streatfield books at Mum & Dad’s house were very well worn!). But I’d never heard of Margaret Mahy. I had only the vaguest sense of what young adult fiction even was.

I took The Changeover home and stayed up all night under an extremely warm doona in Blackheath. It was exciting and suspenseful, sad and funny, slightly supernatural but painfully real, and very sexy – and all of this in a little over 200 pages. I’d never read anything like it.

Needless to say I was hooked – not just on Margaret Mahy, but on the whole oeuvre of young adult fiction. From that moment on I worked my way solidly through Mahy, Peyton, Voigt, Garfield, Cooper, Marsden, Hartnett and co. How could I not have known these wonderful books existed? My love of young adult fiction was born.

I’m sorry to say I did not immediately wake up to myself and rush out to find a job in children’s publishing. No, I came back to Australia and spent ten years working in social research, reading and dreaming of writing the great Australian YA novel. Eventually I started a course at RMIT in writing and editing, before landing a job with Allen & Unwin, where I found my true calling on the other side of the pen ...

One day I even met Margaret Mahy. She drew me a cat. I was speechless with joy.

Thank you, Margaret Mahy, and thank you, Allen & Unwin, for setting me down the path of a very happy and deeply satisfying career in children’s publishing.

- Eva Mills, Publisher

Woe! Woe! Woe!

We must interrupt our Onion Origin stories for the saddest (and rarest) of occasions: an Onion Departure.

Bruno Herfst, our beloved Tall Designer, is leaving us. We are heartbroken.

Which is confusing to him. 'Why does everyone keep saying how sad they are? Why isn't everyone pleased and happy for me?' he asks, with what we assume is a furrowed brow, only it's too high up for us to see.

Happy? Happy, Bruno? How can we be happy when you're ripping a tall chunk of the heart, a fair amount of the soul, and, let's be honest, probably ALL of the cool, from The House of Onion.

In his five years here, Bruno has designed and created the most stunning books - from picture books to young adult, from commercial to literary to downright obscure. He has worked cheerfully and calmly with authors, illustrators and frazzled editors. 

But his body of work speaks for itself...

So we will speak for him - for his energy and enthusiasm; his innovation and dedication; his passion for, and sometimes hair-tearingly infuriating dedication to, making everything juusssst right, from which, in the end (the down-to-the-wire end), we all benefit; his extraordinary expertise in type design, coding, printing, book-making best-practice; and his constant desire to push boundaries, to invent, to create, to experiment and to play.

He has devised countless ingenious ways of making our lives easier. And when he bounces into the office he lightens the mood, brightens the outlook and amplifies the energy.

Thank you so much for everything, Bruno.

We will miss you dreadfully. Every day.

And if you'd let us, we - your devoted sisters and aunties - would tie a note around your neck before sending you out into the world...

But, just like Paddington, you will find a wonderful new home, new friends and new challenges. You will flourish and grow.

We are very proud of you.

And very happy for you. 

Really we are.

*sob*