Otago University Press to move to ‘co-publisher’ model

Posted: Tuesday Feb 26, 2019

Otago University Press is moving to a new management model in what is thought to be a New Zealand industry first.

Otago University Press is moving to a new management model in what is thought to be a New Zealand industry first.

The position of publisher, currently held by Rachel Scott, is to become a job-share position.

Ms Scott will continue as co-publisher, working three days a week. New co-publisher Vanessa Manhire will work two days a week. The new arrangement begins on 4 March 2019.

Dr Manhire has extensive experience in the publishing world, and works as a contract editor. She has previously worked on both a contract and part-time basis for Otago University Press.

She studied English at the University of Otago and received a Fulbright Scholarship to do a PhD at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Dr Manhire has worked as a teacher and editor in the US, Germany and the UK, including three years at Cambridge University Press. She returned to Dunedin in late 2011.

Ms Scott says this innovative move to bring on board the skills of an experienced and talented co-publisher will provide continuity for the Press.

She joined Otago University Press as publisher in 2013, replacing Wendy Harrex, who had held the position for 20 years.

New Zealand’s oldest academic publisher, Otago University Press publishes a wide range of non-fiction books on New Zealand and the Pacific, giving special emphasis to history, natural history, Māori and Pacific, biography/memoir, poetry, literature and the arts.

It also publishes Landfall, New Zealand's longest-running and leading journal of new art and writing.

Otago University Press publishes about 20 new titles a year and has a vibrant backlist of about 150 titles.