Te Herenga Waka University Press

Te Herenga Waka University Press We publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. THWUP publishes the very best New Zealand fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

We know everyone else is busy signing off for the year, but we have one more piece of wonderful news that we're bursting...
19/12/2025

We know everyone else is busy signing off for the year, but we have one more piece of wonderful news that we're bursting to share before we close up shop...

We are so excited to announce that we are publishing Night, Ma by Elizabeth Knox in April 2026.

For three and a half years, calamities hit Elizabeth Knox and family in rapid succession. Her sister suffered a psychotic break and was hospitalised against her will, her husband’s brother died by violence, and her mother was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

In time, she was able to write about it.

Night, Ma is a book about the net of family which people are held by, but also slip through. About the actual daily work of love; the physical and cognitive work love requires.

Knox is a beloved storyteller who has given us other worlds; now she invites us into her own. With characteristic generosity and transcendence, she guides us through time, illness, loss, and the loneliness of unutterable experiences.

Night, Ma offers the gift of seeing as Elizabeth sees.

Cover: Todd Atticus

The 'forthcoming books' list on our website is growing, and looking really good! In March, we are thrilled to be releasi...
08/12/2025

The 'forthcoming books' list on our website is growing, and looking really good! In March, we are thrilled to be releasing two new volumes of poetry.

James Brown's New Days for Old is a life story in small scenes. Each scene is like a 1-minute pop song: its depths are at first easy to miss. But as the story proceeds, the grand scheme of things hoves into view: we are born, we crawl and then are carried away, and everything is a-shimmer, even the disappointments. Funny, moving, erotic, political and undeniably odd, New Days for Old turns our most familiar-feeling days into something altogether new.

Amber Esau's Hungus is a work of world-building that draws on myth, pop culture, pūrākau and science fiction. In the belly of Hungus is the Mantis: an amorphous, many-faced being, as fluid and full of history as the moana. Through this elusive entity, Hungus tells stories of addiction – addictions that settle like a film on tea, that crawl into the home, that devour us from the inside out. Hungus is the arrival of a dazzling new voice in New Zealand poetry.

Find out more and preorder here: https://teherengawakapress.co.nz/collections/forthcoming-books

If you haven't read our November newsletter yet, you may have missed some exciting news... We're thrilled to announce ou...
04/11/2025

If you haven't read our November newsletter yet, you may have missed some exciting news... We're thrilled to announce our February 2026 list, with five outstanding new titles to look forward to next year.

Breton Dukes makes his debut as a novelist with Party Boy, a tender, shocking and comic portrait of a man on the edge. Bill Manhire's Lyrical Ballads is a dazzling blend of story and song where collisions between wonder and reality create unforgettable poems. In What to Wear, Jenny Bornholdt turns to mortality, memory and grief with her signature lightness and wry humour. Kate Camp's Leather & Chains: My 1986 Diary is a scorchingly funny and unexpectedly moving memoir based on the unfiltered diary entries of her 13-year-old self. And in Parliamentary Privilege in Aotearoa New Zealand, Sir Geoffrey Palmer brings his characteristic clarity and frankness to an examination of how Parliament wields its special powers.

We can't wait to introduce you to these pukapuka! For now, you can find out more here: https://teherengawakapress.co.nz/collections/forthcoming-books?srsltid=AfmBOopg8R4hQBQ58ZJnHIFNnzUofFxCuQVVy6-WdrcMOBsOvrNjspzE

04/11/2025

Here's an awesome library event to add to your November calendar!

Wild Swimming in Aotearoa: author panel at Ngā Puna Waiora | Newtown Library

The allure of the sea is strong with many people in Aotearoa and there’s a large wild swimming community that takes that little that extra step - plunging at all times of year into our rivers, lakes and oceans. In this very special event, we meet four wild swimmers who have found inspiration in our natural bodies of water.

📅 Thursday 27 November 2025
🕕 6 – 7pm
📍 Ngā Puna Waiora Newtown Library

Featuring: Authors Ingrid Horrocks, Shona Riddell, and Kate Camp will be in conversation with host and wild swimmer extraordinaire, Corrina Connor.

Free event; all welcome!

Event information here: https://www.wcl.govt.nz/news/wild-swimming-in-aotearoa-author-panel-at-newtown-library-27-november/

02/11/2025

Author Interview: Damien Wilkins

Quick! This weekend is your last chance to get some half-price books (with free postage in NZ). 📚🏃‍♀️
29/08/2025

Quick! This weekend is your last chance to get some half-price books (with free postage in NZ). 📚🏃‍♀️

Te Herenga Waka University Press publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction by leading and emerging voices from Aotearoa New Zealand.

28/08/2025

We have novelist Carl Shuker in this evening to talk about his work at 6pm! will be selling books as well. Come on out for our two favourite things: literature and libations.

Tickets are $20, but include a draught beer, glass of wine, or mocktail.




It's publication day for this gorgeous new edition of Chemistry by Damien Wilkins! 🎉From the author of Delirious, winner...
14/08/2025

It's publication day for this gorgeous new edition of Chemistry by Damien Wilkins! 🎉

From the author of Delirious, winner of the 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, Chemistry – first published in 2002 – is a riveting story about families in crisis.

The new cover is by Sarah Wilkins.
Author photo by Ebony Lamb.

More on the book here: https://teherengawakapress.co.nz/products/chemistry-b-format

Today we're launching our biggest sale ever, to celebrate the move to a shiny new website.www.teherengawakapress.co.nz ✨...
01/08/2025

Today we're launching our biggest sale ever, to celebrate the move to a shiny new website.

www.teherengawakapress.co.nz

✨ Smooth new website experience
📚 50% off ALL books from 2022 & earlier
🗓️ For all of August, while stocks last

Hundreds of books are half price. We're talking Catherine Chidgey's backlist. Pip Adam's early books. Tayi Tibble's poetry. Plus fascinating gems from our archives dating back to the 1940s – some weird and wonderful titles you won't find anywhere else any more.

This is your chance to explore eight decades of New Zealand publishing and find some bargains, while getting familiar with our fresh new online shop. Standard post remains free within New Zealand, so load up with new reads!

The 'Books by Year' page is a great way to find the sale books.

If you experience any niggles as you move around the website, or have suggestions for improvements, please let us know! Just email [email protected].

Te Herenga Waka University Press publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction by leading and emerging voices from Aotearoa New Zealand.

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PO Box 600
Wellington
6140

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VUP publishes the very best New Zealand fiction, poetry and non-fiction.