Parent company | Victoria University of Wellington |
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Country of origin | New Zealand |
Headquarters location | Wellington |
Distribution | Upstart Distribution |
Key people | Fergus Barrowman (Publisher), Ashleigh Young (Editor), Jasmine Sargent (Editor), Kyleigh Hodgson (Editing and Production), Craig Gamble (Publishing Manager), Kirsten McDougall (Publicity Manager), Tayi Tibble (Publicity Assistant) [1] |
Publication types | Books |
No. of employees | 7 |
Official website | teherengawakapress |
Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP (formerly Victoria University Press) is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books.
Victoria University Press was founded in the early 1970s, with a single staff member. Fergus Barrowman joined it in 1985 as publisher and remains in charge of the press. By 2005 the staff had grown to four and the press was publishing on average 15 titles a year. [1] By 2011 this had grown to 25 titles annually, including six or seven poetry books. [2]
In 2019, Victoria University adopted the Māori name Te Herenga Waka ("the mooring place of canoes"), which previously just referred to the university marae. [3] To align with the university's name, the press changed its name as of 1 January 2022 to Te Herenga Waka University Press. [3] It adopted a new logo, designed by Philip Kelly and Rangi Kipa, which uses the initials THW to evoke a whare whakairo (carved meeting house). [3]
THWUP is a scholarly publisher specialising in New Zealand history and public affairs. It is also a significant publisher of New Zealand literary fiction and poetry. Its highlights include the novel The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (2013 Man Booker Prize winner), Elizabeth Knox's The Absolute Book, poet Hera Lindsay Bird's bestselling debut Hera Lindsay Bird, and the poet Tayi Tibble. It has a backlist of over 400 books in print, and issues 32 new titles a year on average. [2] [1]
THWUP publishes vital work in New Zealand history. The history list, particularly social history, is viewed in broad, culturally diverse, and interdisciplinary terms, embracing studies of New Zealand's past and present and how these may shape the future. [1]
Books on Māori topics include important collections of writings in Māori by major figures such as Hirini Moko Mead and Āpirana Ngata, as well as Dame Joan Metge's widely read books on contemporary Māori society and cross-cultural communication. [1]
The press receives funding from Victoria University, which publisher Fergus Barrowman notes is extremely useful: "If we were independent with no funds at all it would be extremely hard. I don't know how some of New Zealand's independent publishers manage to do the books they do. University support is crucial for us. One of the great things is we can take commercial risks, like first books and short stories." [2]
THWUP has published works of many of New Zealand's strongest and most vibrant poets, including:
THWUP has also published foremost writers such as:
Book series published by the press have included:
Books published by THWUP have won numerous Ockham New Zealand Book Awards such as:
New Zealand literature is literature, both oral and written, produced by the people of New Zealand. It often deals with New Zealand themes, people or places, is written predominantly in New Zealand English, and features Māori culture and the use of the Māori language. Before the arrival and settlement of Europeans in New Zealand in the 19th century, Māori culture had a strong oral tradition. Early European settlers wrote about their experiences travelling and exploring New Zealand. The concept of a "New Zealand literature", as distinct from English literature, did not originate until the 20th century, when authors began exploring themes of landscape, isolation, and the emerging New Zealand national identity. Māori writers became more prominent in the latter half of the 20th century, and Māori language and culture have become an increasingly important part of New Zealand literature.
The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, which ran from 1968 to 1995.
William Manhire is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, founded the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2001, and has been a strong promoter of New Zealand literature and poetry throughout his career. Many of New Zealand's leading writers graduated from his courses at Victoria. He has received many notable awards including a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007 and an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2018.
Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her award-winning debut novel, The Rehearsal, written as her Master's thesis, was published in 2008, and has been adapted into a 2016 film of the same name. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Booker Prize, making Catton the youngest author ever to win the prize and only the second New Zealander. It was subsequently adapted into a television miniseries, with Catton as screenwriter. In 2023, she was named on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.
Damien Wilkins is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, and poet. He is the director of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington.
The International Institute of Modern Letters is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses and has taught many leading New Zealand writers. It publishes the annual Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems anthology and an online journal, and offers several writing residencies. Until 2013 the IIML was led by the poet Bill Manhire, who had headed Victoria's creative writing programme since 1975; since his retirement, Damien Wilkins has taken over as the IIML's director.
The Luminaries is a 2013 novel by Eleanor Catton. Set in New Zealand's South Island in 1866, the novel follows Walter Moody, a prospector who travels to the West Coast settlement of Hokitika to make his fortune on the goldfields. Instead, he stumbles into a tense meeting between twelve local men, and is drawn into a complex mystery involving a series of unsolved crimes. The novel's complex structure is based on the system of Western astrology, with each of the twelve local men representing one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, and with another set of characters representing planets in the solar system.
Louise Wallace is a New Zealand poet.
Kelly Ana Morey is a novelist and poet from New Zealand.
Lynn Jenner is a poet and essayist from New Zealand.
Pip Adam is a novelist, short story writer, and reviewer from New Zealand.
Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa won the inaugural fiction prize at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011, and Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings won the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction in 2014. She lives on the Kāpiti Coast, New Zealand.
Whiti Hereaka is a New Zealand playwright, novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards. In 2022 her book Kurangaituku won the prize for fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and Bugs won an Honour Award in the 2014 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
The Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing was set up in 1996 by benefactors Denis and Verna Adam. It is awarded to an outstanding MA student at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington.
Ashleigh Young is a poet, essayist, editor and creative writing teacher. She received the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2017 for her second book, a collection of personal essays titled Can You Tolerate This? which also won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
Chris Price is a poet, editor and creative writing teacher. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
Tayi Tibble is a New Zealand poet. Her poetry reflects Māori culture and her own family history. Her first collection of poetry, Poūkahangatus (2018), received the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, and was published in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2022. Her second collection, Rangikura, was published in 2021.
Geoffrey O'Neill Cochrane was a New Zealand poet, novelist and short story writer. He published 19 collections of poetry, a novel and a collection of short fiction. Many of his works were set in or around his hometown of Wellington, and his personal battles with alcoholism were a frequent source of inspiration.
Anthony Lapwood is a New Zealand short story writer. His debut collection Home Theatre, published in 2022, received the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Lawrence Patchett is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, and editor. His book of short stories, I Got His Blood on Me, won the Best First Book award at the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards. Following this Patchett released his debut novel, The Burning River in 2019. Patchett has held several writing residencies in New Zealand, including the Michael King Emerging Writer's Residency.