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 nonfiction.

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 1000 books in total, and on average we publish thirty 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.

FICTION
Our fiction list features many of Aotearoa's foremost writers, as well as exciting new writers. Some of our writers include Eleanor Catton, Pip Adam, Rebecca K Reilly, Elizabeth Knox, romesh dissanayake, Catherine Chidgey, Olive Nuttall, Airini Beautrais, Annaleese Jochems, 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.

NONFICTION
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 nonfiction is viewed in broad, culturally diverse and interdisciplinary terms, embracing studies of Aotearoa's past and present and how these may shape the future. Just a few of the critically acclaimed authors we have published are Rose Lu, Talia Marshall, 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 joined Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2024. Caoimhe has worked as a bookseller, literary events organiser, editor and writer. She has an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington. She organises the Writers on Mondays event series and was previously on the editorial panel at Headland journal. Here's how to pronounce Caoimhe's name.

Editor
Kyleigh Hodgson has worked for Te Herenga Waka University Press since 2007, copyediting, typesetting and proofreading mostly nonfiction 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. She has worked on books with Airini Beautrais, Patrick Evans, Talia Marshall and Michelle Rahurahu and on short fiction with Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera and Ingrid Horrocks.

Editorial Intern
Penny Pickard has been an editorial intern for Te Herenga Waka University Press since April 2024 and has worked on copyediting, typesetting and proofreading forthcoming books, as well as helping with publicity. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington and recently completed the Graduate Diploma in Publishing (Applied) at Whitireia Weltec.

Editorial Intern
Always Becominging is trans. She particularly enjoys working on poetry and books by queer authors. Before her time at Te Herenga Waka University Press she was the publisher of We Are Babies (now Tender Press) and ran the reading series/zine/bookstore Food Court.

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.