Victoria University Press

In the house with bookshelves - new VUP Publicist
 What Sport! Years ago, when I was fresh out of high school, I worked in Onehunga (way before it was cool) at the Hard to Find but Worth the Effort Second-Hand Bookstore. My boss was famous for...

David Beach on Found Poetry
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Kate Camp on 'thinkiness' and Berlin
It’s spring in Berlin now, early summer really. Such a green city, so many big trees, and on the traffic islands and empty sections, there will be knee-high weeds. Our stereotype of Germans is...

Kissing Toads
We were so taken with Emma Martin’s speech for the launch of Two Girls in a Boat that we convinced her to share it with our readers below. Emily Perkins launched the book with another...

Fighting to Choose launched at the new VicBooks
We had an amazing night at the new VicBooks last week launching Fighting to Choose: The Abortion Rights Struggle in New Zealandby Alison McCulloch.Dame Margaret Sparrow has kindly supplied her...

You are warmly invited
Victoria University Press and the Adam Art Gallery warmly invite you to hear Fleur Adcock in conversation with Harry Ricketts. This is a rare chance to catch an internationally renown poet on a ...

Haere ra Barbara Anderson
We are very sad to pass on the news that Victoria University Press novelist Barbara Anderson has died peacefully in Auckland on Sunday morning after a short illness. One of...

Rowing to Paradise by Elizabeth Nannestad
Some days we all feel like this beetle, hopefully today is not one of those days for you! Rowing to Paradise Hoi there beetle: you’ve a long way to go. If only you knew! – to the back door from...

The 'eminently buyable' Family Songbook
It was one of those 'Can't beat Wellington on a good day' days last Thursday when John Newton's third book of poetry, Family Songbook, was launched at the Stout centre by Mark Williams....

Ian Wedde on the Springbok tour, posties, and the Wellington Media Collective
In 1981 at the height of the anti-Springbok rugby tour protests I was working as a postie in Wellington, out of the Kilbirnie branch. Like many mail delivery depots, the place was full of sports...

Merry Xmas & closing hours
The Press will be closed between the 21st of December and the 7th of January. Please note that orders to the online store after the 20th of December will be processed when the press re-opens. We wish...

Xmas Competition and February titles
We'd like to thank our loyal readers with a Christmas give-away. This year we thought we'd let you choose, you can win any six titles published by VUP in 2012. All you need to do is tell us your...

For all the tea in China
Is it still a book launch when the editor of the book hasn't yet arrived? This is what we quietly worried on Thursday night as Chris Elder was delayed by the Auckland tornado on his way back from...

Tractors not teapots
Stephen Levine with the RT Hon John Key The Prime Minister expressed his relief  that the cover featured a tractor, not a teapot as he launched Kicking the Tyres: The New Zealand General...

Fretful Sleepers in Frankfurt - a report from John Sinclair
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sails,There gloom the dark, broad seas … - Tennyson, Ulysses For the record, let me be numbered amongst the admirers of the New Zealand pavilion at the...

Covered with mould
I wrote a speech for the launch of Magnificent Moon last week. But once in front of a microphone, I choked and read only a few lines from it. As ever, saying something on paper is easier than saying...

Three Days in a Wishing Well
Here 's a little taster from our latest book of poetry - Three Days In A Wishing Well by Kerrin P. Sharpe. If you're going to be stuck anywhere for three days this is the book to...

New books & recent events
Bill Manhire read to a packed house at Te Papa yesterday from his hot-off-the-press new Selected Poems.  Perhaps the most entertaining part was hearing about an abandoned novel set in...

Samoa's Journey 1962-2012: Aspects of History
Ua sau le va'a na tiu, 'ae tali le va'a na tau, o lo'o mamaulago i le va'a na faoafolau. One boat returns from the catch; the other is tied to the shore; the third is resting in the boat shelter.The...

Telepathy & Magic Fiction
‘Then make your mind clear. Push everything out of it. Not a single thought left. Your mind is a pool of water, very clear, absolutely still. Now Rachel is going to drop some pebbles in....