New Women's Press (NWP) was an independent book publisher founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 1982. New Women's Press's mandate was to publish books "by, for, and about women." Wendy Harrex ran New Women's Press for 11 years. Over that time, NWP published over 70 titles of non-fiction, fiction and poetry, as well as an annual diary, ''Herstory,'' that highlighted groups of New Zealand women. The Haeata Collective of Māori women artists was originally founded to produce a ''Herstory'' edition for NWP. NWP also published the first anthology of New Zealand women's fiction, which was edited by

Cathie Dunsford Cathie Koa Dunsford (born 1953) is a New Zealand novelist, poet, anthologist, lecturer and publishing consultant. She has edited several anthologies of feminist, lesbian and Māori/Pasifika writing, including in 1986 the first anthology of new ...

. The ''

Broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

'' feminist magazine and NWP celebrated a joint anniversary (''Broadsheets twentieth and NWP's tenth) on 19 September 1992, with a

Suffrage Day A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

event in Auckland, attended by more than 200 women. The event was part of the ''

Listener Listener(s) or The Listener(s) may refer to: Literature * ''The Listener'' (magazine), a 1929–1991 British weekly covering broadcast media * ''New Zealand Listener'', a 1939–2020 weekly magazine covering politics and culture * ''The Listener ...

'' Women's Book Festival, and was also the launch of ''Been Around for Quite a While''. Speakers included

Pat Rosier Patricia Jean Rosier (21 January 1942 – 12 June 2014) was a New Zealand writer, editor and feminist activist. Born and educated in Auckland into a working-class family, after marriage and raising two children she came out as a lesbian in the 1 ...

, Sandra Coney, Wendy Harrex, Stephanie Johnson and

Sheridan Keith Sheridan Keith (born 1942) is a New Zealand author, artist, broadcaster and curator. Life and career Keith was born in Wellington in 1942. She is the daughter of ceramic artist and painter June Black. She studied zoology and English literatu ...

. In an article surveying the state of women's publishing in New Zealand, Laurel Bergmann describes New Women's Press as "an important part of the process of legitimation of women fiction writers", particularly due to the ''New Women's Fiction'' anthology series that provided opportunities to new writers to publish alongside established voices.

Janet Wilson Janet M. Wilson is a UK-based New Zealand academic who specialises in post colonial New Zealand literature. Academic career Janet Mary Wilson is Emerita Professor of English and Postcolonial Studies, Faculty of Arts, Science and Humanities, ...

has noted that this anthology series "confirmed the development of a new market and readership" for writing by women.

List of Publications

References

{{reflist 1982 establishments in New Zealand Publishing companies established in 1982