MEDIA RELEASE
20 August 2014
Manawatū Word-Weavers Unite
Poetry, publishing and a ‘back-to-basics’ approach to doing business come together this Friday night when three Manawatū
poets (and their books) shake off their dust-jackets to reveal the colour and creativity that ‘thinking local’ can bring
to our community.
Award-winning weavers-of-words Tim Upperton, Joy Green and Leonel Alvarado along with HauNui Press, Swampthing Magazine
and the Palmerston North City Library present an evening of poetry readings, music and mild mayhem – all in the name of
National Poetry Day.
Starting at 5.30pm, this launch of the new Kete Series home-grown poetry books is just one of the more than 60 events
being held around the country to celebrate National Poetry Day. Reading poems from their books, Tim, Joy and Leonel,
will in turn recite, excite and reunite audiences on the night with all that poetry can offer.
Says event organiser David Lupton, of Palmerston North-based boutique publisher HauNui Press: ‘We are most grateful to
have been one of the first recipients of funds from the local Earle Creativity and Development Trust. They were the
first to invest in the project, and we’ve had many more since then join us in helping make these books a reality.’
‘We’ve come to think of our approach to book-making as ‘slow publishing’! Along the lines of the ‘slow food’ movement,
slow publishing looks to support our local economy by using suppliers in our backyard and respecting the relationship
side of transactions, kind of like the way local markets support gate-to-plate dealings between home cooks and growers.
For us, it’s the ink-slinger to book-lover connections that are key.’
The books retail for $20 a copy and $80 for a limited edition ‘Kete Set’, which bundles the three titles together inside
a traditional tote. The publishers spurned traditional boxed book sets in favour of beautiful flax kete woven specially
for the project by another talented local group, Raranga Manawatū, based out of the Highbury Weaver’s Centre.
Books and Kete Sets will be available at the launch or from all good booksellers nationwide (or online at www.haunuipress.co.nz ) after 22 August.
Come, raise a glass with us to National Poetry Day!
ENDS