Photos: Amalia Osborne
Although born in Western Australia, Dame Wendy Pye could be considered our national treasure.
As a young woman, she moved to New Zealand to work as a journalist – and met her Kiwi husband – before embarking on her dream to teach the world to read.
It came after she was made redundant from New Zealand News Limited in 1985 (then publisher of the Weekly). She started Sunshine Books, inspired by meeting a group of adolescent boys who couldn’t read.
Her core belief at the heart of her publishing empire is that literacy is the way out of poverty.
On her journey, Wendy, 81, has gone from attending book fairs with just a handful of books, to providing digital resources to refugee camps and working with world leaders.
She’s now launched her autobiography Teaching the World to Read: My Multi-million Dollar Story sharing insights into what she’s learned as an entrepreneur.
Chatting to the Weekly over a plate of club sandwiches, Wendy’s a witty straight-shooter, who deplores trendy business jargon or being asked about retirement. But watch the country girl light up when you talk about shoes…
What are your memories from school?
I was left-handed and this wasn’t allowed. Every time I picked up a pencil to write, I was hit across the hand with a ruler. On two occasions, I was part of the group that burned the cane in the fire to avoid being hit with it – every school in Western Australia had an open fire in winter!
How hard was it restructuring the Weekly in 1985?
It was tough. Times were changing – glossy international magazines were coming into the country. Before then, there were people begging to get into the advertising pages. People just rang up because it was the only Kiwi magazine for New Zealand women.
Legendary Australian editor Ita Buttrose helped?
Yes, Ita’s a sharp lady. The Australian Woman’s Weekly was very successful and I needed the vision of someone who had restructured a similar magazine. When [editor] Jean Wishart retired, I reappointed Michal McKay to take over. But she was probably too sophisticated. I still buy all the women’s magazines. They’re fabulous! I leave them in the staffroom. I always say, “Once you’ve had print in your fingernails, you’ll never get it out.”
At a time when redundancies abound, what did you learn from your own experience?
The big mistake I made was not to have a fall-back position. I also learned that if you do the right thing by people, working with them as partners, it proves valuable. When I was let go from the Brierly Corporation in the ’80s, we were in an economic boom before the stock market crash. I didn’t have a plan B. People asked, “What happened? You were one of its bright stars – you must have punched Sir Ron Brierly in the nose!”
Why did you write a book?
To show that you didn’t have to go to a fancy private school, university or come from a rich family with connections to make it in the business world. I had no connections. It was just me. It was tough and there was no internet or mobile phones. All I had was a suitcase of sample books and the love of the challenge of a hunt.
Has it been a lonely ride in business?
Very lonely! At the moment, I’m working on a project which has never been done in the world before and there’s no one in New Zealand to talk to about it. People think I’m mad. Even when I said I want to teach every dyslexic child in the world to read, people thought that. I think we pay lip service to celebrating entrepreneurial people here.
You don’t seem like someone who’s had self-doubt…
I do have self-doubt. When I say that, it’s because some of the tasks are quite difficult. It takes me a while to decide on a strategy. I think of them in two ways – one is a mountain and the other one is a war, in that I look for my target while I’m still on the landing craft. I plot out all of my campaigns!
What’s your pet peeve?
Trendy phrases like “multi-tasking” or “deep diving”. I got contacted by an enterprise who said, “We’re doing a deep-dive webinar.”. I thought, “What? Are you providing snorkel gear?”
You’ve met with a lot of world figures – who impressed you and why?
When I was in ABAC [Apec Business Advisory Council], I met Helen Clark, who was very good to me even though we have different politics. When she wanted a project done, she’d put the best people at the table and didn’t worry who you voted for. She always extended a kindness to me when she was in the UN. I would tell her I was going to be in New York and she’d say, “Let’s have dinner!” and always invite someone, like the head of UNICEF, who was relevant to me. I haven’t met any other leader in this country who’s done that – probably because a lot of them don’t understand women.
What was Bill Clinton like?
He was quite nice – as was Vladimir Putin! I chaired a meeting with him about people misusing copyright. But the KGB was much more interesting!
Why haven’t you gone into politics?
That would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back with my husband! It doesn’t interest me.
How did you meet your husband Don?
I’d just moved to Auckland for a few months and asked my flatmate what there was to do for entertainment. She suggested the trots, so I met him on a blind date. We drank warm beer from a flagon at the back of a car. It was hunky dory. Don was a bit unsophisticated compared to me – a switched on, ash-blonde lady from Sydney.
What makes you sad?
Thinking about what do you do with a nine-year-old ram-raider. Where are their positive role models? Our prisons are full of people who can’t read and I find that really sad. We have to work harder with families. We have to help get children to school. It’s not one quick fix. That’s why I’m patron of the Hearing House – they wheel me out like the wooden horse of Troy and I wave like the Queen and help them raise money.
Tell us something people might not know about you?
I like country and western music. For my 80th birthday last year, I had a party in a little Whitford country hall where a line dancer took us through the ropes. I’m not a holiday person. There’s a joke at the office that after a week of me being on holiday, they’ll say, “She’ll ring us anytime now…”
Describe your childhood in rural Yarloop?
Most of the time, I was alone on the farm after my three older sisters left home. Animals were very important to me. I organised the bantam hens in the schoolroom, I taught the dog to do things. I was very close to my father. We used to lie on the floor and listen to the radio. I listened to Randy Stone – he was a sleuth in the murder-mystery series. My mother was a redhead with a fiery temper, who ran our dairy farm and was very ambitious. I grew up thinking nothing was impossible – other than I wasn’t born in America, so I couldn’t be the president!
What’s the nicest thing you’ve bought for yourself lately?
Soft, baby-blue ostrich-leather shoes from Ferragamo in New York. It’s the designer’s only shop that stock shoes in my size 12. When I was a child, I used to ride my bike to school, but I never wore any shoes. When I went to high school and tried to be a bit trendier, there were no shoes to fit my wide, large feet other than boy’s lace-up shoes. I found that quite embarrassing because I was different. Even today, it stays with me. As a teenager, I used to dream about having a fabulous, elegant pair of shoes, because my friends all had small feet.
What are you most proud of?
That my team’s made a difference to thousands of children. We’ve created 2300 books and sold 300 million copies of those across the world. A woman came up to me recently and said, “I learned to read on your books, my daughter learned to read on your books and my granddaughter’s now bringing the Sunshine Books home.”
What’s most important to you?
That kids can see their role models in books. It’s a hang up I’ve got from my early years of having British reader books that said, “It’s snowing in November” when it was 110 degrees outside in Australia. Children need to see “this is me”. We recently re-illustrated our African series. One of our team went over there to do training models with teachers using a blackboard and a piece of chalk. He went into the classroom with our books sitting on the table and saw one boy open the book and say to his classmate, “Look at us! Here we are.” Bless.
You can buy Dame Wendy’s book at sunshine.co.nz/dame-wendy-pye/
All proceeds go to charity.
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