VUP changes name to Te Herenga Waka University Press

Victoria University Press has changed its name to Te Herenga Waka University Press as of 1 January 2022.

The university-affiliated publisher changed its name to align with Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, which adopted the new name in 2019.

‘Te Herenga Waka means “the mooring place of canoes”, which is a notion that resonates with us,’ said the publisher in a statement. ‘We are a mooring place for many different authors and their work. The books we publish represent a community of readers and writers who support us, inside and outside the university, in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world.’

The name Te Herenga Waka was first given to the university marae (Māori meeting ground), before extending to the whole university. The publisher’s new logo, designed by Philip Kelly and Rangi Kipa, evokes the architecture of the whare whakairo (carved meeting house), symbolising a place of relationships, communication and learning.

Established in the early 1970s, Te Herenga Waka University Press has published around 800 books and has grown from a staff of one to a staff of seven under the leadership since 1985 of publisher Fergus Barrowman.

‘We enter our sixth decade committed to publishing diverse creative writing and scholarship from Aotearoa, and to conserving and renewing our legacy of 50 years,’ said the press. ‘Our new name leads our commitment to this vision.’

Category: Local news