This recipient was raised on books and jazz and hurtled up and down the hill from varisty to the bookshop for several years, bookselling with a remarkable team including a remarkable author. They were into radical overstocks, direct importing, and saying what they thought.
This person has a dangerous appetite for reading and authors, and our place in global publishing. She’s anticipated the trade and the market thousands of times. She survived the ‘87 stock market crash at Perrett’s Corner, then opened a new bookshop in central Auckland – which is to Auckland what City Lights is to San Fransisco. But without the Howl.
She married Lawrie, had 2 babies, supplied the Herne Bay library for the Sultan of Brunei, led the pack on Harry Potter, bought the Auckland shop off Alan Preston, and later bought half of Unity Wellington as well. She survived the WFC, and partnered with Carole from the Women’s Bookshop to service AWF for over 20 years. She & Caro Alexander ran legendary sales with 2-block queues for the best minds of several generations. She set up our enduring sponsorship with The Spinoff Books, created various author awards, opened Little Unity next door, won the LBF International Indie Bookseller, stood her ground on issues, and always openly cared about us all. Through all of that across all those 40+ years she raced about in western boot heels, with a glass of wine and a genuine grin.
Like Bruce McKenzie, she also has that grand mothership of NZ bookselling – Bennett’s – in her print culture genetics. Her mother worked there and her great-grandfather G.H. Bennett opened it. I can’t think of anyone more questing or X factor or expressively diagnostic of everything books and people. She’s the book trade’s original Interrobang.
The winner of this 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award is Jo McColl from Unity Auckland and Wellington.