New Women's Press (NWP) was an independent book publisher founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 1982.[1] New Women's Press's mandate was to publish books "by, for, and about women."[1] Wendy Harrex ran New Women's Press for 11 years.[2] Over that time, NWP published over 70[3] 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.[4] NWP also published the first anthology of New Zealand women's fiction, which was edited by Cathie Dunsford.[5]

The Broadsheet feminist magazine and NWP celebrated a joint anniversary (Broadsheet's twentieth and NWP's tenth) on 19 September 1992, with a Suffrage Day event in Auckland, attended by more than 200 women.[3] The event was part of the Listener Women's Book Festival, and was also the launch of Been Around for Quite a While. Speakers included Pat Rosier, Sandra Coney, Wendy Harrex, Stephanie Johnson and Sheridan Keith.[3]

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.[6][7] Janet Wilson has noted that this anthology series "confirmed the development of a new market and readership" for writing by women.[8]

List of Publications

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Title Author/Editors Series Year of

Publication

ISBN
New Women's Calendar 1982 1981
Healthy Women: A self-help guide to good health Sarah Calvert 1982 0 908652 00 3
New Zealand Herstory 1983 Hamilton Women's Collective Herstory 1982 0 908652 01 1
Born Beneath a Rainbow: Memories of a country childhood Judith Ellmers 1983 0 908652 02 X
Self Defence for Women Sue Lytollis 1983 0 908652 03 8
New Zealand Herstory 1984 Herstory 1983
Nest in a Falling Tree Joy Cowley New Women's Classics 1984 0 908652 08 9
The Love Contract Margaret Sutherland New Women's Classics 1984 0 908652 10 0
Dragon Rampant Robin Hyde New Women's Classics 1984 0 908652 07 0
Deep Breathing Lora Mountjoy 1984 0 908652 13 5
Haeata Herstory 1985 Haeata Herstory Collective Herstory 1984 0 908652 12 7
Women's Studies: A New Zealand Handbook Candis Craven, Claire-Louise McCurdy,

Pat Rosier & Margot Roth

1985 0 908652 15 1
Recipes My Mother Taught Me Reinza Goldwater 1985 0 908652 14 3
Herstory 1986 Rural Women's Network Herstory 1985 0 908652 16 X
Save the Midwife Joan Donley 1986 0 908652 05 4
Self Defence for Women Sue Lyttolis Reprint 1986 0 908652 03 8
New Women's Fiction Ed. Cathie Dunsford New Women's Fiction 1986 0 908652 18 6
The Daughter-in-Law and Other Stories Frances Cherry 1986 0 908652 19 4
The Old-Time Maori Makereti New Women's Classics 1986 0 908652 11 9
Nor the Years Condemn Robin Hyde New Women's Classics 1986 0 908652 09 7
Peace is More than the Absence Gil Hanly, Sonja Davies 1986 0 908652 23 5
Herstory 1987 Herstory '87 Collective Herstory 1986 0 908652 21 6
Candles and Canvas: A Danish Family in New Zealand Poula Langkilde-Christie 1987 0 908652 22 4
Twenty-Eight Days in Kiribati Claudia Pond Eyley and Robin White 1987 0 908652 24 0
Feet Across America Anne Macfarlane 1987 0 908652 25 9
2 Deaths in 1 Night Janet Charman 1987 0 908652 27 5
Poorman Oranges: Women in community houses in Auckland Wensley Willcox 1987 0 908652 29 1
Herstory 1988: Women & Books New Women's Press Herstory 1987 0 908652 28 3
New Women's Fiction 2 Ed. Aorewa McLeod New Women's Fiction 1988 0 908652 30 5
The Glass Whittler: Short Stories Stephanie Johnson 1988 0 908652 33 X
Tai: Heart of a Tree Momoe Malietoa von Reiche 1988 0 908652 36 4
Guts, Tears & Glory:

Champion New Zealand Sportswomen talk to Trish Stratford

Trish Stratford 1988 0 908652 31 3
Herstory 1989 (on women in sport) Lisa Hayes & Clare Simpson Herstory 1988 0 908652 34 8
Healing Your Child Frances & Louise Darragh 1989 0 908652 26 7
Premenstrual Syndrome Helen Duckworth New Women's

Handbook Series

1989 0 908652 44 5
No Body’s Perfect: A self-help book for women who have

problems with food

Jasbindar Singh & Pat Rosier New Women's

Handbook Series

1989 0 908652 46 1
Wednesday’s Children Robin Hyde New Women's Classics 1989 0 908652 37 2
New Women's Fiction 3 Mary Paul & Marion Rae New Women's Fiction 1989 0 908652 43 7
The Wintering House Alexandria Chalmers New Women's Fiction 1989 0 908652 40 2
One Plain, One Purl: Stories of a Girlhood Carin Svensson New Women's Fiction 1989 0 908652 41 0
Tahuri Ngahuia Te Awekotuku New Women's Fiction 1989 0 908652 42 9
Dancing with Strings Frances Cherry New Women's Fiction 1989 0 908652 32 1
To Be So Old Gwen Skinner 1990 0 908652 47 X
The Exploding Frangipani: Lesbian writing from Australia & NZ Cathie Dunsford & Susan Hawthorne 1990 0 908652 51 8
Home Away from Home Manying Ip 1990 0 908652 45 3
Victoria in Maoriland Margaret Bray New Women's Fiction 1990 0 908652 50 X
Self Defence for Women Sue Lytollis Reprint 1990 0 908652 03 8
Premenstrual Syndrome Helen Duckworth Attic Press Edition 1990 0 946211 67 1
No Body’s Perfect: A self-help book for women who have

problems with food

Jasbindar Singh & Pat Rosier Attic Press Edition 1990 1 85594 007 8
Women in Mid-Life Leteia Potter New Women's

Handbook Series

1991 0 908652 53 4
Parker & Hulme: A Lesbian View Julie Glamuzina & Alison Laurie 1991 0 908652 54 2
Sailing Away: New Zealand Women in Sailing 1920-1990 Jann Iorns 1991 0 908652 57 7
Mana Wahine Maori: Selected writings on Maori women's

art, culture and politics

Ngahuia Te Awekotuku 1991 0 908652 63 1
New Women's Fiction 4 Wendy Harrex & Lynsey Ferrari New Women's Fiction 1991 0 908652 64 8
The Widowhood of Jacki Bates Frances Cherry New Women's Fiction 1991 0 908652 61 5
Shallow are the Smiles at the Supermarket Sheridan Keith New Women's Fiction 1991 0 908652 58 5
An Unusually Clumsy Lover Carin Svensson New Women's Fiction 1991 0 908652 60 7
Animal Passions Sheridan Keith 1992 0 908652 66 6
Crimes of Neglect Stephanie Johnson 1992 0 908652 65 8
The Woman Question: Writings by the women who won the vote Selected by Margaret Lovell-Smith 1992 0 908652 67 4
Broadsheet: Twenty Years of Broadsheet Magazine Ed. Pat Rosier 1992 0 908652 68 2
Invisible Families: A resource for Family and friends

of lesbian or gay daughters and sons

Terry Stewart 1993 0 908652 69 0
Healing Your Child Frances & Louise Darragh reprint 1994 0 908652 26 7

References

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  1. ^ a b Taylor, Renee (October 1982). "Feminists Impress" (PDF). Broadsheet (103): 10–11 – via Auckland University Library.
  2. ^ Smith, Charmian (17 January 2009). "From book lovers to book covers". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "The twentieth birthday of Broadsheet and the tenth of New Women's Press". Broadsheet Magazine. 196: 33. Summer 1992.
  4. ^ "Haeata | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Sex scandals and sexism in the swinging 60s". Newsroom. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  6. ^ Bergmann, Laurel (January 1994). "Where to from here?: contemporary New Zealand women's fiction". Hecate. 20 (2): 217–218 – via Informit.
  7. ^ Wilson, Janet (10 July 2019). "Contemporary Women's Writing in New Zealand". Kunapipi. 16 (1). ISSN 0106-5734.
  8. ^ Wilson, Janet (2006). "Anthologies of women's writing". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 24 June 2022.