Help us launch our latest book, ‘Pav Deconstructed’, into the world!
Our PledgeMe campaign is live and you can help us by pledging and sharing our campaign far and wide. Christmas is just around the corner and we want to make sure as many people as possible have this tasty slice of Aotearoa New Zealand under their Christmas tree.
* Don’t know what to get your international visitor for Christmas? * Struggling to buy that perfect gift for your mother-in-law or neighbour? * Tired of having to think about presents for your sister, Lois, who has everything – including your mum’s pavlova recipe? * Want something to remember those times making pavlova with Nan? * Need the perfect gift to say sorry to Julie whose perfect pavlova you accidentally-on-purpose ate and then replaced with a flat, burnt offering?
Whatever gift-giving scenario you find yourself in, Pav Deconstructed will solve it. And the best way to get your hands on a copy is through the PledgeMe campaign here. (Unfortunately, our campaign only ships to New Zealand addresses.)
In September 2012, almost exactly eleven years ago, the NZ Society of Authors, Northland Branch held their first NorthWrite conference in Whangārei. We had amazing presenters at this event: Fifi Colston, Joe Bennet, Kyle Mewburn, Deborah Challinor, David Hill, Michelle Elvy, Paula Green and Zana Bell to name a few.
On the Friday night before the conference, we had an opening dinner. At one table, the topic turned to pavlova and we discovered we all had a pavlova tale to tell. Now, I can’t remember who exactly was at that table but I know Fifi was there, and Michelle, as well as myself and Jac, Margaret Cahill, Di Menefy and Lesley Marshall. One or two of the other participants or speakers may have been there as well.
There were some pavlova stories that really stuck in our minds – Di’s and Jac’s for a start (both of which are in Pav Deconstructed) – and someone said, wouldn’t a book of collected pavlova tales be a great idea.
No one took up the idea, but a few of us remembered it.
Fast forward five or six years. Jac, Margaret, Michelle and I were out to dinner and the talk once again turned to pavlova, but not to the dessert this time, to the book. In a rash moment, I decided I would take on the challenge, and Jac jumped on board, surfing the wake of craziness with me.
Over the next few years, the idea of establishing Pavlova Press as a vehicle to launch such a book was bandied between us, and, in 2019, Jac and I made our press a reality, publishing first a book of short prose (Scoria) and then in 2021 a book of collected works about Kerikeri (Ngā Ripo Wai).
In early 2021, we started our search for pavlova tales. Sticking with crazy, we decided this was not going to be just prose and poetry, this was going to be a gorgeous coffee-table-style book with artwork as well as stories and poems. Hence the incredibly long time it has taken for us to bring this book together.
Jac and I can’t thank the pavlova-tale tellers at NorthWrite 2012 and all our contributors enough; we feel so blessed to have you on this journey with us. However, there is one person whose absence is strongly felt. In March 2020, our dear friend and most ardent supporter, Margaret Cahill, passed away. We miss her deeply and Pav Deconstructed is dedicated to her.
Pav Deconstructed is a luscious, hard-cover, coffee-table-style book about pavlova. While it does contain a recipe from the wonderful Christall Lowe, it is not a recipe book!
The idea for the book started ten years ago at a dinner table when a group of writers discovered they all had a pavlova tale to tell. Over the past two years, Pavlova Press has been on a quest for the real pavlova, the one seen on Kiwi tables, and not just through the photos in a cookbook.
Pav Deconstructed brings together experiences and imaginings through poetry, story, and art from everyday Kiwis (and some international imposters) in a collection that shows pavlova is not just a dessert, it is community.
At Pavlova Press we love this idea of community and believe every Kiwi will see a little bit of themselves inside. We have gathered work from over 150 contributors, many of whom have not been published before, and presented it in an anthology unlike any seen before. Part of our ethos is providing a platform for new voices and we believe Pav Deconstructed does just that.
Our vision for this book is to offer something that is uniquely Kiwi and that resonates with our passion for holding on to what is rightfully ours – Phar Lap, Crowded House, the Bledisloe Cup … and pavlova.
Christmas is just around the corner and we want to make sure as many people as possible have this tasty slice of Aotearoa New Zealand under their Christmas tree.
* Don’t know what to get your mum for Christmas? * Struggling to buy that perfect gift for Nana Hazel or Uncle Jim? * Tired of having to think about presents for your sister, Lois, who has everything – including your mum’s pavlova recipe? * Want something to remember those times making pavlova with Dad? * Need that hard-to-find gift to say sorry to Madge?
Whatever gift-giving scenario you find yourself in, Pav Deconstructed will solve it.
Want to know how to get a copy? Very soon we’ll be launching a PledgeMe campaign to get this book out into the world. We’ll give you all the details as soon as we have them.
We think Ngā Ripo Wai | Swirling Waters: A Kerikeri Anthology is a fabulous volume that shows real connection between people & place and present & past, so it’s good to know others feel this way too. In this post, we share extracts from two reviews and will share more as they come to hand. If you know of anyone who would love this book, then please share this post with them.
“Kerikeri is a vital landmark in my memory banks, so it is with delight I read Ngā Ripo Wai: Swirling Waters, an anthology of multi-genre writings linked to the area. … The opening piece, ‘Te Riu o Ngāti Rēhia’, stands as a mihi, welcoming us to writing that embraces place, people, experience, history and memory from multiple points of view. There is Tokerau Mountain, Kororipo Pā, Kerikeri River, the iconic stone store, the inlet, various mission houses, the arts communities. The physicality of place is enhanced by the way place is peopled; layered with complex and at times conflicting histories and experiences.… The anthology is structured like a piece of music that allows distinctive notes, chimes, chords, tones, ideas.… It begins with the local and it makes the local significant as it celebrates complexity, connection, creativity.… As readers and writers, we are breathing in and out the possibilities of words.” Paula Green
North & South Magazine (February 2022, p88-89)
“This commendable anthology … attempts to do justice to the many facets of Kerikeri, and in general achieves that aim. It digs much deeper than the tourist-friendly establishments … As Lynne Hill’s untitled poem says: “history looks different here”.…One of the most attractive features of the anthology is the wide variety of contributors.… Dallon August’s beautiful cover artwork of a landscape with pou, shrouded in a mist that evokes the living presence of history and the need to make things clear sets the tone perfectly.” Paul Little
In 2022, we will be open for two or three very short submission periods for book-length prose and poetry manuscripts. Note that submission windows may open with short notice so be sure to follow us here or on Facebook to stay informed. Our submission form and terms and conditions are on the Submissions page to enable you to prepare in advance. Please only send us work during submission periods. Our first submission period is15 January 2022, 00:01am – 11:59pm NZDT (24 hours). Future submission periods will be announced closer to their opening date.
Pavlova Press 