Kristin Mack Alnaes: Going Aussie!

Hello Bonnier people! As part of the GROW program, I have just come to Sydney, Australia. If I had been back home in Norway now, I would be art directing the interior magazine BoligPluss and awaiting the humid, gradually darker autumn with sideways winds. Instead I am here to work as a designer at the book-publishing house Weldon Owen. And the spring has just come. What a delight! (Even though the rain paid us with a HUGE visit a few days ago).

I have always been fascinated by paper. I love the smell of newly printed paper, the texture of old paper, the crafts of handmade paper! Hence I have constantly had an urge to hobnob with that cellulose product. Initially I started out as a reader plowing through grandma's shelfs, advanced to working in bookstores, moved on to newspapers, via different monthly lifestyle magazines - and in the summer of 2007 I was lucky to be part of the Bonnier group in Oslo.

A little less then a week has passed since I arrived Sydney. Actually I have a sort of an anniversary today. It is a month since I got married, I left Norway a week ago, and my Aussie cell phone and I are happily celebrating our one-day-old relationship.

Weldon Owen creates, develops and produces illustrated reference, lifestyle and educational books geared towards children and family. The office is filled with colorful books with beautiful illustrations. Nowadays (read; busy periods associated with the book fair in Frankfurt), the building also seems to be filled with a quiet buzz. Everyone is calmly hurrying and concentrating to finish the race. Editorial teams produce new material for sales purposes, and new concepts are put together in various presentations with covers and sample pages.

Hence, I am not sure if the few glimpses, that I have gotten from the office so far, are representative for how a business day normally is. However, already within the first week of this adventure in Oz, it has become clear that this experience will enable me to have a much greater insight into the workings of book publishing. Additionally, it is really exciting to learn what the similarities and differences are in working life and in real life. I will not say there is a huge culture clash, but there are some things that I would have to get accustomed to;

• There are no wheelie bins on the street, and yet no garbage.


• Australians drive at the wrong side of the road. They have nicely taken tourists into account and written with big letters "LOOK RIGHT" on the pavement. However, everything else is on the left too – and without any sign drawing my attention. I cannot count how many times I have stumbled into the escalators going towards me...


• The terminology in the printing business is not a universal language, and English-/Norwegian punctuation are two very different sides of a coin.

Ah! I look forward to becoming as good as an insider - if that is possible to achieve within three months!