Victoria University Press warmly invites you to the launch of James K. Baxter: Complete Prose

Victoria University Press warmly invites you to the launch of James K. Baxter: Complete Prose edited by John Weir on Saturday 29 August at Te Taratara ā Kae, Level 2, Rankine Brown Building, Kelburn Campus Library Victoria University of Wellington Seminar: 3.15pm–4.45pm Launch: 5.00pm–7.00pm (see below for programme details)

3.15–4.45pm     A seminar on aspects of Baxter’s writing life Fergus Barrowman, publisher at Victoria University Press will introduce the seminar’s speakers: Dr John Weir on his experiences editing Complete Prose; Colin Durning, close friend and confidant of Baxter’s on his friendship with the writer; Eli Kent, playwright and grand-nephew of Baxter, reading a Baxter manuscript on drama; Dr Paul Millar, Baxter scholar, who will talk about his Baxter research. 5.00pm–6.30pm     Launch of Complete Prose    A karakia for the books will be followed by a performance from Dave Dobbyn singing Baxter’s ‘Song of the Years’. Guests are invited to stay on for refreshments following the launch. Copies will be available for purchase courtesy of Vic Books.

This four-volume set contains over a million words, from Baxter’s first draft of ‘Before Sunrise’ as a teenager in 1942 to his ‘Confession to the Lord Christ’ shortly before his death in 1972. Edited with scrupulous care by John Weir, the Complete Prose is a testament to Baxter’s huge contribution to New Zealand literature, culture and society. 2662 pages: 4 hardback volumes with cloth spines presented in a box. The box reproduces three details from 'Poet Three Times' (Tryptych) by Nigel Brown, acrylic on canvas, Fletcher Trust Collection. $200rrp