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 you all a peaceful holiday season and all the best for 2013.

Congratulations to competition winner Pip Adam, who has won 6 VUP titles of her choice! Pip's review for The Invisible Rider was chosen by Random Number Generator but there are many wonderful reviews on the blog post below and on the main website. Thanks to everyone who joined in, we had a great time reading them all. You can read some reviews on the main site for:

I Got His Blood On Me

The Invisible Rider

Magnificent Moon

Just Then

The Phoenix Song

The Bengal Engine's Mango Afterglow

Three Days In A Wishing Well

Tune in to National Radio tomorrow to hear Kate De Goldi rave about 3 of these titles. 

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 favourite VUP book of 2012 and what you liked about it.

Post your reviews as a comment below or on the website like this one for Kerrin P. Sharpe's book (see "Reviews" tab) and we will pick a winner on December 19th. Good luck and happy reviewing!*

Now that our last title for 2012 has been launched with great success we are gearing up for 2013. It's going to be a year packed with delicious books! Here is  sneak peek at a few forthcoming titles:


Aorewa McLeod's autobiographical novel delivers vivid and hilarious snapshots of late 20th Century lesbian life: witty, tender, frank.


Ben Cauchi’s photographs seem to arrive from another time and place, yet are thoroughly of the present. His use of the mid-nineteenth-century wet collodion photographic process is a means to question and undermine the certainties that we continue to invest in the photographic image.

We have some much anticipated new poetry out in February from John Newton and Elizabeth Nannestad. Also coming: We Will Work With You: Wellington Media Collective 1978-1998 tells the story of a group of young Kiwi designers and political activists committed to broadly defined left-wing principles and politics.

Have a look on our website for the full list of forthcoming titles (more titles will be added as details are confirmed).



*reviews sent in may be quoted on our website in future.

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 Beijing. Of course he made it, a little late and ready for a glass of bubbly and a spring roll!
New Zealand's China Experience was given a loving send-off into the world. To celebrate we're sharing one of the excellent full colour illustrations from the beautifully produced book. This one you'll recognise as a Sarah Laing classic (thanks Sarah!).

Highlights from the book include:

• An 1823 report pointing to the importance of the Chinese market.
  
• The lives of Chinese goldminers seen by the missionary Alexander Don and the contemporary writer Alison Wong, and in the film Illustrious Energy.
  
• First-hand reports of the bombing of Shanghai by Robin Hyde, and Mao Zedong in the Yunan caves by James Bertram.
  
• The Chinese contractor in Dunedin who changed his name to MacPherson in order to bid successfully for Council contracts.
  
• The New Zealand sheep flown 2,500 miles inland from Shanghai and rafted down the Yellow River to establish a breeding flock.
  
• The New Zealand Honorary Consul in Tianjin who caused a diplomatic incident when required to remove his trousers at a Japanese checkpoint.
  
• The ship’s captain who took greenstone from Milford Sound for the China market, losing an eye and fracturing both arms in the blasting operation.
  

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 Election and Electoral Referendum of 2011.

The book tells the story of the 2011 election campaign and of the National Party's success in winning more votes and seats than any other party.  Edited by Professor Stephen Levine and Dr Jon Johansson, Kicking the Tyres features chapters from representatives of all the parliamentary parties, and includes a section dealing with the 2011 electoral system referendum. It is accompanied by a DVD featuring materials such as election photographs; leaders' debates; political party and electoral commission TV ads.

The Prime Minister lingered to pose for photographs, and even signed a copy of the book for Stephen Levine’s mother in Florida.

The launch was held at Victoria University’s annual New Zealand Political Studies Association conference, which brings together political scientists and graduate students from around New Zealand and overseas to look at topics including New Zealand politics, electoral systems, international relations and public policy.
 
Attendees included contributors Steven Joyce, Grant Robertson, Metiria Turei, Mojo Mathers, Jane Clifton, Colin James, Nigel Roberts, Therese Arseneau, Claire Robinson, Sandra Grey, Stephen Church and Corin Higgs.