About Us

Te Herenga Waka University Press is a division of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and is Aotearoa's leading publisher of fiction and poetry, as well as scholarly and literary non-fiction. 

 

Established in the early 1970s as Victoria University Press of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka University Press has grown from a staff of one to a staff of six, under the leadership since 1985 of publisher Fergus Barrowman. We have published about eight hundred books in total, and on average we publish thirty-two new books every year. We have a special mission to discover new writers.

 

In January 2022 our name changed from Victoria University Press to Te Herenga Waka University Press. You can read about our name change on our blog.

 

FICTION

Our fiction list features many of Aotearoa's foremost writers, as well as exciting new writers. Some of our writers include Eleanor Catton, Rebecca K Reilly, Elizabeth Knox, romesh dissanayake, Catherine Chidgey, Olive Nuttall, Pip Adam, Airini Beautrais, Annaleese Jochems, Sue Orr, Damien Wilkins, Barbara Anderson and Vincent O'Sullivan.

 

POETRY

Te Herenga Waka University Press has Aotearoa's strongest and most vibrant poetry list, including such writers as Tusiata Avia, Tayi Tibble, Freya Daly Sadgrove, essa may ranapiri, Oscar Upperton, Hinemoana Baker, Nafanua Purcell Kersel, Jenny Bornholdt, Vincent O'Sullivan, Dinah Hawken and the inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate Bill Manhire. 

 

NON-FICTION

We publish vital work in a wide range of subjects, including history, law and public policy, biography and memoir, literary studies, politics, art and architecture, Pacific studies, te reo Māori and personal essay. Our non-fiction is viewed in broad, culturally diverse and interdisciplinary terms, embracing studies of Aotearoa's past and present and how these may shape the future. Some of the critically acclaimed authors we have published are Rose Lu, Shayne Carter, Rachel Barrowman, Carwyn Jones, Vincent Ieni Olsen-Reeder, Geoff Park, Ashleigh Young, Maurice Gee and Chessie Henry. 

 

STAFF

 

Publisher

Fergus Barrowman has been publisher of Te Herenga Waka University Press (formerly Victoria University Press) since 1985, and was the co-founder and editor of literary magazine Sport (1988–2019). He edited The Picador Book of Contemporary New Zealand Fiction (1996) and A Game of Two Halves: The Best of Sport 2005–2019 (2021). Editing jobs he remembers fondly include Keri Hulme, Te Kaihau/The Windeater (1986), Elizabeth Knox, After Z-Hour (1987) and Geoff Park, Ngā Uruora: The Groves of Life (1995).

 

Publicist

Caoimhe McKeogh started at Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2024. Caoimhe (pronounced Kee-va or Quee-va) has worked as a bookseller, literary events organiser, editor and writer. She organises the Writers on Mondays event series and has been on the editorial panel at Headland journal.

 

Editor

Kyleigh Hodgson has worked at Te Herenga Waka University Press since 2007, copyediting, typesetting and proofreading mostly non-fiction works, including the last five books in our series covering New Zealand's general elections (Back on Track?, Politics in a Pandemic, Stardust and Substance, Moments of Truth, Kicking the Tyres and Key to Victory) and the four-volume box set James K. Baxter: Complete Prose.

 

Editor (Māori) 
Jasmine Sargent (Ngāti Porou) has been with Te Herenga Waka University Press as an editor since 2019 and has a special focus on our reo Māori titles. Her project highlights so far include Monsters in the Garden (2020) and the Vanuatu women’s anthology Sista, Stanap Strong! (2021). She has worked on books with Airini Beautrais and Patrick Evans, and on short fiction with Patricia Grace and Witi Ihimaera. 

 

Managing Editor

Ashleigh Young has been with Te Herenga Waka University Press since 2014. She has worked on poetry collections, novels, short stories, and many forms of nonfiction. A few of the authors she has worked with include Carl Shuker, Pip Adam, Shayne Carter, Oscar Upperton, Rose Lu, Kate Camp and Ruby Solly.

ADVISORY BOARD

 

Rawinia Higgins, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori and Engagement (Convenor)

 

Bill Manhire, Emeritus Professor and Founding Director of the International Institute of Modern Letters

 

Rebecca Priestley, Associate Professor/Reader Wellington Faculty of Science

Lawrie McColl, Publishing Consultant

 

Craig Gamble, Partner at Archetype Books and former Publishing Manager at Te Herenga Waka University Press

 

Fergus Barrowman, Publisher

 

INFORMATION FOR BOOKSELLERS

 

Our books are sold to booksellers in New Zealand by Archetype and are distributed in New Zealand by Upstart Distribution: orders@upstartpress.co.nz

 

Please note: All books sold directly by Te Herenga Waka University Press are 'firm' unless otherwise arranged.