New Zealand’s Mr
Publishing – Ray Richards – farewelled
Eulogy delivered by Geoff Walker, former publishing director at Penguin New
Zealand
I’m Geoff Walker and
I’m a long-time friend, colleague and former employee of Ray Richards. I want
first to extend my deepest condolences to Barbara, Nicki, Bron and their
families.
Ray was my first
publishing mentor. He gave me my first job in publishing 38 years ago and it’s
been one of my life’s great pleasures and privileges to work with him as
colleague and friend during all that time.
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| Ray Richards |
I’m here to tell you about
Ray’s extraordinary professional achievements, in a career in book publishing
that lasted an almost unbelievable 77 years. It just has to be a record.
Perhaps others overseas have continued working this late in their publishing
lives – but surely nobody began at the age of 15. Publishing was in Ray’s blood
and he found it impossible to relinquish.
That’s how young Ray
was when he began working as an office boy at Reeds in Wellington before the
war. After the war he returned to Reed as an editor.
And then began a
remarkable publishing career which is unparalleled in the NZ book world.
Someone recently described him as ‘the grand old man of New Zealand
publishing’. I don’t think he would have minded that. This courteous, gentle
man had a sharp analytical mind and, at a crucial moment in this country’s
history, an ability to read the cultural winds and produce some great books.
It’s not stretching
things too far to claim that Ray essentially created New
Zealand publishing as we now know it. It’s a big claim, but I think it’s true.
From the mid-1960s Reeds under Ray created a new kind of New Zealand book and
set up New Zealand’s first commercial publishing culture.
We don’t see much of
these books these days, but there are some of them over there. The novels of
Barry Crump, the first big tourist color books, a big Maori publishing
programme, the books by Peter McIntyre the painter, the T P McLean rugby tour
books, natural history books, lots of New Zealand history, and so on.
This was all new.
These were New Zealand books, by our writers, for us. It was the flowering of a
specifically Kiwi publishing culture, which continues to this day, and it was
led by Ray Richards. Ray has described this period as being ‘like a runaway
train – unstoppable’. It’s easy to forget just how successful Reeds’ publishing
was. They never printed less than 5000 copies – that’s double what a publisher
would print today.
I was a long-haired
leftie young editor, an enthusiastic new member of the team. And I was in awe
of the man guiding this revolution – he was charming, canny, passionate about
New Zealand culture, and possessing a very sharp commercial eye for what would
work in the marketplace. He was a hands-on publisher, building strong personal
relationships with many of his authors. And he was a brilliant editor himself.
But any life this long
is also a rich tapestry in which there are ups and there are downs. Reeds ran
into financial trouble in the 1970s. Ray ended up in bitter conflict with the
owners. There were staff redundancies. As Ray himself has described it: ‘The
team fell apart.’ Ray and Barbara’s beloved daughter Meredith died while
overseas. Like the other Reed editors at the time I remember this vividly. It
was the lowest of lows. And it was Barbara who said one night to Ray: ‘I don’t
know about you, but I’m moving to Auckland. Do you want to come?’ It was time
to leave and start a new life.
And so in 1976 they
did. In Auckland they set up on their own as a book publisher and Ray became
the first executive director of the Book Publishers Association, making a major
contribution to New Zealand book publishing in a different way. In the same
year he established in partnership with Barbara the Richards Literary Agency,
which then became the second part of his publishing career. Barbara was an
integral part of it and so were Nicki and Bron at various times.
For decades Richards
Literary Agency was New Zealand’s biggest and strongest. Ray specialised in
children’s books and he had a huge stable of children’s writers. He achieved
considerable success in selling foreign rights, particularly to the United
States, and he earned the gratitude and loyalty of many of our leading authors.
To the end Ray was still working personally with fine writers such as Joy
Cowley, Witi Ihimaera and Tessa Duder. He still represented Maurice Gee.
It isn’t possible to
talk about Ray’s life and his achievements without mentioning Barbara. I want
to pay special tribute to the remarkable woman who is Barbara Richards. Ray and
Barbara were married for 64 years, and all through Ray’s life Barbara has been
his partner in every respect. When he was a publisher she was his confidante
and supporter – and yes, also cooking hundreds of dinners for authors and
having the occasional penniless one sleep in the spare room. When Ray was a
literary agent Barbara was literally his partner, his colleague in the
business. She is also charming, loving and considerate – and a fine artist.
That’s her portrait of Ray over there. So let’s be clear: Ray could not have achieved
what he did without her presence beside him.
Ray Richards, we
salute you, for a life that made a huge difference, not just to your family,
friends and colleagues – but also to New Zealand’s culture.
E te rangatira –
haere, haere, haere. From all your friends and colleagues in the book
publishing world, farewell Ray. . . .
Peter’s
Piece
I met Ray Richards several times about five or six years
ago after someone suggested that I should engage him as my literary agent.
Ray was in his mid eighties and trying to reduce his
workload. He wasn’t keen on taking on a new author and so we talked about
flying instead. His flying was in the 1940s, mine started in the 1950s. As I
left his house he asked to see my manuscripts, and I left the complete Asker Trilogy
with him.
A couple of weeks later we had another long chat and he
gave me lots of sound advice on changes to the manuscripts and how to get them
published. He must have put in many hours on my behalf for no return other than
the pleasure of helping a fellow flyer and lover of books.
His help is acknowledged in the front matter of Book One
of The Asker Trilogy, a small appreciation for a great book man.
