Fergus Barrowman to step back as Te Herenga Waka University Press publisher

The Wellington press's publisher of more than 40 years moves to a part-time publisher-at-large role from 1 February 2027.

Fergus Barrowman, publisher of Te Herenga Waka University Press (THWUP), will move into a part-time role as publisher-at-large from 1 February 2027, closing out more than four decades at the head of the Wellington press.

Barrowman joined what was then Victoria University Press in 1984 as assistant to editor Pamela Tomlinson. After her death the following year he kept the publishing programme running and was later made editor. Since then he has steered about 1,000 books into print.

The press now has a staff of seven and releases about 30 new titles a year, with a focus on fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. Writers whose early books it published include Eleanor Catton, Catherine Chidgey, Elizabeth Knox, Tusiata Avia, Hera Lindsay Bird, Tayi Tibble and pip adam, whose novel Audition won the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.

Barrowman was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for services to publishing. In his new role he will stay involved with the press and keep championing New Zealand writing. The announcement did not say who will take over as publisher.