Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly the New Zealand Book Council) is a not-for-profit organisation that presents a wide range of programmes to promote books and reading in New Zealand. It was established in 1972 and its programmes have included supporting writers' visits to schools and enabling writers to travel to different areas of New Zealand.

History

The organisation was established as the New Zealand Book Council in 1972 as a response to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's International Book Year. Author

Fiona Kidman Dame Fiona Judith Kidman ( Eakin; born 26 March 1940) is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story writer. She grew up in Northland, and worked as a librarian and a freelance journalist early in her career. She began writing ...

was the founding secretary of the organisation. The original purposes of the organisation included to bring together different parts of the book industry (including writers, booksellers, teachers, publishers and librarians), and to encourage reading in New Zealand. In December 1972 the organisation advertised for founding members, with a year's membership costing 3. In the 1980s the organisation spoke out against books being subject to New Zealand's GST (goods and services tax), saying this was in breach of international agreements.

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician, economist and accountant who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He is most recognised for his key involvement in New Zealand's radical economic rest ...

, then Minister of Finance, said in response that there were no good grounds for books to be exempted from the tax. In 2014 and 2015 the organisation ran the "Great Kiwi Classic" event together with the Auckland Writers Festival, asking readers to nominate their favourite New Zealand classic novel. In 2014 ''

the bone people ''The Bone People'', styled by the writer and in some editions as ''the bone people'', is a 1984 novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme. Set on the coast of the South Island of New Zealand, the novel focuses on three characters, all of whom ar ...

'' by

Keri Hulme Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 194727 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui. Her novel ''The Bone People'' won the Booker Prize in 1985; she was the first New Zealand ...

was selected, followed in 2015 with '' Owls Do Cry'' by

Janet Frame Janet Paterson Frame (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She is internationally renowned for her work, which includes novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous award ...

. In 2017, the organisation commissioned a survey into New Zealanders' reading habits, and found that around 400,000 New Zealanders had not read a book in the previous year. The survey was repeated in 2018 and again in 2022; in 2018 it found a slight decline in reading by adults, and that 57% of all readers had read a New Zealand book in the previous year. The 2022 survey found that men's reading continued to fall. In 2019, the organisation changed its name to Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. The Māori language name is about moving from darkness to light.

Writers in Schools and other programmes

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura runs various public event programmes that take New Zealand and international writers to venues around the country. One programme is Writers in Schools, which takes New Zealand writers and illustrators into schools throughout the country. This programme has run since the organisation was first established in the 1970s, with

Noel Hilliard Noel Harvey Hilliard (6 February 1929 – 22 October 1996) was a New Zealand journalist and novelist. Background Hilliard was born in 1929 in Napier, New Zealand. He married Kiriwai Mete in 1954 and they were to have two sons and two daughters ...

the first writer to tour schools. In 1977, following the success of a pilot, 39 writers were hired to tour schools, including

Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played American football, football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sport ...

and Denis Glover. In 2007 the programme was estimated to reach 50,000 New Zealand students each year. The programme is subsidised by

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

and charitable donations. In 1997 the organisation established a yearly writers' exchange programme with Australia, to encourage readership of New Zealand books in Australia. Peter Wells was the first author to take part in the exchange. The Words on Wheels initiative was an annual initiative beginning in 1998, and enabled writers to travel to a different part of rural New Zealand each year, sometimes in collaboration with local literary festivals. In 2007 writer David Hill said of the programme: "Every time I do a tour I hear people say how brilliant it is to see and hear writers in the flesh. This is the New Zealand part of the New Zealand Book Council in action." Other programmes have included Writers Visiting Prisons, Writers In Youth Justice, Meet the Author and Writers to Book Groups.

Writers Files and other publications

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura produces the Writers Files, an online database of profiles of New Zealand writers which is regularly updated. From 1981 to 2013 the organisation published ''Booknotes'', a quarterly publication distributed free to members. In 1995 the organisation published ''Bookenz: A Traveller's Guide to New Zealand Books'', described by

Iain Sharp Iain Sharp (born 1953 in Glasgow) is a New Zealand poet and critic. Sharp emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1961, where they settled in Auckland. He studied at Auckland University where he received a doctorate in English in 1982. His ...

as a "handy little leaflet".

Notable people

Maggie Barry Margaret Mary Barry (born 5 October 1959), generally known as Maggie Barry, is a New Zealand radio and television presenter and politician. As a member of the National Party Barry was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2011 gen ...

(chair in 2007) * Clarence Beeby (founding board member, elected president in 1978) * Jo Cribb (chief executive, 2017–2019) *

(founding secretary, and later chair in the mid-1990s) * Keith Sinclair (founding president, until 1978) *

Lydia Wevers Lydia Joyce Wevers (19 March 1950 – 4 September 2021) was a New Zealand literary historian, Literary criticism, literary critic, editor, and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years, including act ...

(vice-president) *

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...

(chair in the 1990s)

References

External links

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura websiteWriters in Schools programme
{{Authority control 1972 establishments in New Zealand Charities based in New Zealand Literary societies Arts organisations based in New Zealand