Whare Raupo, The Reed Books Story

NEW ZEALAND'S ICONIC PUBLISHING HOUSE
CELEBRATES ITS 100TH YEAR THIS MAY!

Whare Raupo, The Reed Books Story

BY GAVIN MCLEAN

Barry Crump, Witi Ihimaera, Kiri Te Kanawa…

Over the last 100 years the House of Reed has been responsible for bringing some of the country's most iconic New Zealanders into the limelight. It has published books as diverse as Pounamu Pounamu and A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree, books that have embedded themselves in the New Zealand psyche. It has also, itself, become a national icon.

To mark the company's 100th anniversary this year, Gavin McLean has authored Whare Raupo: The Reed Books Story, a full and frank account of the company's long history in New Zealand publishing. Given total freedom to author the business's story, McLean has written an engrossing and accessible tale.

'THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOU CLIF, BUT ... YOU'RE THE BEST BLOODY PUBLISHER IN
NEW ZEALAND' – Clif Reed quoting Denis Glover

Anyone who has made a career for themselves in publishing in New Zealand is likely to have a Reed connection and McLean has interviewed numerous former and current Reed staff members. He deals with the entire history, from the business's origins as a religious bookselling hobby, to the company's 20-year foray into the music industry with Kiwi Records, to staff upheavals and restructuring in the 1980s, to the present day.

Within Whare Raupo, readers will find stories that are the stuff of New Zealand publishing legend. All sorts of Kiwi icons make an appearance, from the company's clean-living founder A.H. Reed – a man who was as renowned for walking the length of the country aged 85 as he was for his publishing feats – to authors both famous and infamous, many of whom were not as clean-living as A.H. and Clif would have liked.

Stories featuring Denis Glover, Janet Frame, Mona Anderson and the irrepressible Barry Crump grace the book's pages, as do stories from the editors charged with keeping these authors in order and the books rolling in.

'CRUMP IS ENTIRELY DEAF TO THREATS, ENTREATIES, APPEALS TO COMMON-SENSE OR SELF-INTEREST. PRODDING HIM ... IS LIKELY TO DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD'
– Arnold Wall

In May this year – the month A.H. Reed said he founded the business in 1907 – Reed Publishing will celebrate its long publishing history with four centenary celebrations. These will be held as follows: Dunedin on 21 May; Christchurch on 22 May; Wellington on 23 May; and Auckland on 25 May.

SRP $59.99   IMPRINT Reed Books   RELEASE 26 April 2007

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