Emerging Bookseller of the Year, Lisa Adler

The 2022 National Book Trade Industry Awards were announced recently in Auckland, to celebrate “…our best and brightest, our successes and our innovations, and to acknowledge the excellent work being done in the New Zealand book trade”.

Lisa Adler, of Vic Books
Lisa Adler, of Vic Books

On the winners list was a true Wellington gem, one of Vic Books’ long-standing staff members, Lisa Adler. Adler took out the top prize for the Emerging New Zealand Bookseller of the Year category, a true testament to her extensive service to Wellington’s thriving book community. Following the win, she generously shared some of her insights with us, answering questions about career progression, supporting local writers and working closely with community to enhance an experience with books.

Read our Q&A below to discover Lisa’s recent pick, an old favourite and just how many books a professional bookseller can own!

Q&A with Lisa Adler, 2022 Emerging New Zealand Bookseller of the Year

Q: Congratulations on winning the 2022 Emerging New Zealand Bookseller of the Year award! How did your nomination come about?

Thank you very much!  I didn’t know I had been nominated, so it was a complete surprise to win.  My general manager, Jessica Godfrey, did all the work behind the scenes. She says she was able to address every single criteria from the many testimonials that she asked people for – so I guess my nomination, and ultimate win, came from the many relationships one forms as a bookseller. And the strength of those relationships.

Q: Could you give us some context about your work: how you came to your current role and your future trajectory within the book industry?

I went back to university after being a full-time parent for ten years, to study English Literature and Classics, after re-igniting my love of reading with my children.  I wanted to work closely with books: promoting the value of reading, encouraging people to read, sharing the joy of the worlds that books send you to and being surrounded by others who are passionate and committed to books and reading also. I decided to approach Vic Books to see if there were any jobs available, and luckily for me there was an opening at their Pipitea store.

Q: What do you find is the most fulfilling part about helping connect people to literature?

Knowing that it is more than just reading words on a page; that engagement with the narrative means many things for the reader.  A book can help you imagine lives other than your own, find similarities with your life, take you to worlds you hadn’t imagined, give you perspective…  To hear that someone has had a meaningful experience with a book is what makes it all worthwhile.

Q: You also co-host a RadioActive FM show ‘Vic Books for Breakfast’ every Thursday morning. Could you tell us a little about it, and how it ties into your bookselling?

I meet with Maggie Tweedie to talk about a book (of my choosing): usually it is a recent release, or it may be one that has won an award, or that is being spoken about in literary spaces – the overall belief being that others will find it worth the time to read.  I will review fiction and non-fiction, adult and children’s.  I really enjoy the challenge, as I will try hard to choose genres that I may not always gravitate to.  I hope to not just cover the plot of the book, but to discuss how well the author writes and crafts their story.

Q: The store is a benchmark in so many local writers’ development, particularly in their early years due to its connection to Victoria University Te Herenga Waka. In your opinion how does it contribute to, nurture and foster emerging voices? Do you have any pearls of wisdom for young or emerging writers who are just starting out?

Vic Books has always valued its commitment to literature in all its forms and works hard to foster relationships with the university staff, the International Institute of Modern Letters and Te Herenga Waka University Press.  We write a journal that showcases writers and their publications as well as those working in publishing.  We host book launches, special literature days (National Poetry Day coming up August 26th with an in-store event!) and readings by New Zealand authors.  For those new writers (of any age!) I say “stick with it” – join writing groups, get peer reviews, read voraciously to learn about craft and language and find others that can understand what you are doing.  There are courses run through Continuing Education and of course, the IIML, that provide excellent groundwork for emerging writers.

Q: In your eyes, what value do independent booksellers provide for the community, that online sellers / conglomerates cannot match?

We provide independent, engaging advice and expertise.  Time is spent discussing what a reader likes and grasping how they relate to differing authors and genres.  We can get a sense of whether a reader would like to try something different and encourage them to try something new.  Independent booksellers know their books and curate for readers; we will often choose a title knowing we have a readership for it.  We build relationships with customers that encourage them to see our shop as an interested and curious space, where we learn as much from them as they do from us.  Online sellers can’t form those relationships, and their choices for what books you might like are only based on what you have already read: they are unable to be creative.

We work hard at providing a ‘bricks and mortar’ venue, knowing that it is important for humans to connect in the real world. People who enjoy reading, enjoy the passion that comes with discussing their latest book and getting to connect with other like-minded people.  Hence, author events, reading days, book launches that keep people connected to their community.

Q: Is there a single piece of writing that has left a particularly significant mark for you? Could you explain why?

The Iliad:  the story encompasses all of what it means to be human. The characters display those emotions that are both enhancing and those that show their shortcomings – the reader gets deep anger, jealousy, a sense of injustice, love in all its forms, brutal aggression, redemption.  The plot is driven by lots of action, but also by its quieter moments, when reflection will determine the next scene.  I loved the Gods as an ‘audience’ and the rationale behind their interventions, or not, in the face of a human war.

Q: Over your lifetime, how have libraries played a role in developing and shaping your passion for books? Has your relationship to libraries changed over time?

Libraries have played a huge role in my life.  Our family visited them frequently and as a teenager I would read the books my mum got out! I made libraries my home in the UK when I nannied there for a while and on return to NZ took my children there weekly. I still use the library service – have a list of books on reserve all the time.  I often go to pick up books I have ordered, but still browse the shelves looking for something that piques my interest.

Q: Could you tell us about a recent title you loved and why it captured you?

I have just finished ‘Eddy, Eddy’ by Kate de Goldi and it has truly captured my heart because of its encapsulation of love, loss, trying to find one’s self, and make sense of the world against a backdrop of constant loss.  It never falls into a trope of grief, and always maintains humour, with marvellous wordplay and quirky characters.  The ending is one of the best, although immensely poignant, that I have read.  I think de Goldi is masterful in the way she constructs a world so easy to inhabit and I would love to meet Eddy’s family in real life.

Q: And finally, ballpark, how many books do you think you own?

I had to do a quick calculation on looking at my shelves…  and think it is probably about 2000, counting the children’s books that are in the attic, packed away for if I ever have grandchildren!


Eddy, Eddy / De Goldi, Kate
“Eddy Smallbone (orphan) is grappling with identity, love, loss, and religion. It’s two years since he blew up his school life and the earthquakes felled his city. Home life is maddening. His pet-minding job is expanding in peculiar directions. And now the past and the future have come calling, in unexpected form. As Eddy navigates his way through the Christchurch suburbs to Christmas, juggling competing responsibilities and an increasingly noisy interior world, he moves closer and closer to an overdue personal reckoning.” (Catalogue)

The Iliad / Homer
“An epic tale of love and betrayal, war and hope The Iliad is the first of two legendary ancient poems attributed to the Greek bard Homer. Typically dated between the 8th and 7th centuries BC it is believed by many to be the earliest extant piece of European literature. The poem deals with the exploits of Agamemnon, Odysseus, Achilles, Ajax and their comrades in the final year of their siege of the city of Troy.” (Catalogue)

We would like to thank Lisa for generously taking the time to answer our questions. Listen to her latest RadioActive Book Review, and explore the full archive online. To hear more about Lisa, listen to her recent interview with RNZ. Thanks to Jennifer at Vic Books for providing the photograph used in this post.

Kamila Shamsie: Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018

Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018. The prize was previously known as the Bailey’s and the Orange Prize. The author is described as creating a book that “spoke for our times. Home Fire is about identity, conflicting loyalties love and politics.” Commended for her mastery, the book is written in five parts, each voicing their truth in the tale. Based on the struggles of Antigone who wrestled with loyalty to family or the ruling elite, this modern setting places characters sensitive to ethnicity, religion and ideologies. British Muslim characters, with family connections to extremism, face prejudice and personal dilemma in reaction to family, the state and justice.

Home fire / Shamsie, Kamila
“Isma is free. After years spent raising her twin siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she is finally studying in America, resuming a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London – or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream: to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Handsome and privileged, he inhabits a London worlds away from theirs. As the son of a powerful British Muslim politician, Eamonn has his own birthright to live up to – or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined in this searing novel that asks: what sacrifices will we make in the name of love? A contemporary reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone, Home Fire is an urgent, fiercely compelling story of loyalties torn apart when love and politics collide – confirming Kamila Shamsie as a master storyteller of our times.” (Catalogue)