In 2015 Karen Zelas established a small indie press called Pūkeko Publications, with the purpose of enabling new poets to have their poetry collections published.
Ten beautiful books have been published in the past ten years.
The publications have been stimulating, at times extravagant.
Pūkeko Publications has now announced its pending closure, but copies of various titles are still available. These may be ordered through obliging independent books stores, or directly from Pūkeko Publications by emailing: pukekopublications@gmail.com.
The Christchurch library system holds titles for readers, and can order them if replacements are required, directly from Pūkeko Publications.
Individual authors may also be contacted via Pūkeko Publications.
Resolutions
The first of the Rebecca Eaton legal procedural novels.
ISBN: 978-0-473-57930-2 (Softcover)
ISBN: 978-0-473-55442-2 (EPUB) Amazon Kindle; search – ‘Karen Zelas’
pp323
Author: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications, 2021
When Lawyer for Children Rebecca Eaton is invited to be Junior Counsel in a murder/infanticide trial, she sees a path to achieving her ambition of becoming a partner in their law firm. Rebecca’s work takes her to the West Coast and Marlborough Sounds … her intense engagement with a West Coast whānāu cause her to risk opening doors …
‘… storytelling at its most thought-provoking and gripping.’
– Gail Ingram
‘Karen Zelas skilfully combines the elements of tension, pace, friction and urgency … Literary crime fiction at its best.’
– Paddy Richardson
feathers unfettered
25 New Zealand Birds
ISBN: 978-0-473-28797
pp63
Illustrations: 29 b&w, incl cover image
Poems: Karen Zelas
Illustrator: Jan FitzGerald
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications
The initial core of eleven poems formed part of an exhibition with Galina Kim and Sue Spigel.
The source of most ornithological information has been gleaned from New Zealand Birds by Geoff Moon and Ronald Lockley and The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Birds.
Aspiring Light
ISBN: 978-0-473-31412-5
Author: Robynanne Milford
Editor: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications, 2015
Cover Illustration: Matukituki Valley John Drawbridge
Kind permission of Drawbridge family
‘Aspiring Light is an emporium of all that Robynanne Milford holds dear in her love affair with Central Otago … She opens up multiple histories … calls on composers and artists and poets to join her in … a very personal journey …’
– Bernadette Hall
Contents Under Pressure
ISBN: 978-0-473-47034-0
Author: Gail Ingram
pp85:
Illustrator and cover: Rata Ingram
Illustrations: 8 b&w
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications, 2019
‘… There’s energy to burn here. Many will feel the tug of recognition … It’s all part of our shared history.’
– Bernadette Hall
‘Gail Ingram has pulled off something special here …
offers a freshness of style and vision … vivid imagery, often visually striking …’
– Sue Wootton
‘‘… Gail pays careful attention to craft, with memorable and transformative perceptual images …’
– Bryan Walpert
broken lines / in charcoal
ISBN: 978-0-473-52742-6
Anthology: 37 Canterbury poets
(from The Poetry Class of Joanna Preston)
pp148; 128 poems
Editors: Joanna Preston and Karen Zelas
Cover art: Kate Rennie
Internal and cover design: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications
‘Wonderful poems: careful poems, daring poems, cheeky poems, quirky poems; poems of delight, poems of grief … a celebration of the imagination and a fine tribute to the art of poetry.’
– James Norcliffe
‘These poems have in common a love of the exuberance and mutability of language. What sets them apart is the diversity of voices.
– Morrin Rout
Away with Us
ISBN: 978-0-473-58894-6
pp97
Editor: Karen Zelas
Cover design: Lucy Barge
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications, 2021
Lucy Barge is a 17-year-old with a way with language … This debut collection is honest, fresh, shocking and gives up sharp, bright poems … Several of these … have been awarded prizes.
‘Lucy’s poetry is written with the technical assurance of someone twice her age …’
– Gail Ingram
‘Lucy Barge writes with striking and aching honesty, tenderness and defiance. She gathers all the learnings from her own coming of age to deliver a confident and generous debut collection.’
– Emma Shi
Legacy
Celebrating 33 Women Artists, painting Otago, New Zealand
ISBN: 978-0-473-56779-8
Pages: 143
Paintings: 32
Poems, Art (in Colour); Biography and Artist photographs (b & w)
Author: Robynanne Milford
Editing and Design: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications
Robynanne Milford sought out these early woman artists, from late 19th century to the recent times, pursuing their works and life stories. She then wrote varied ekphrastic (poetic) responses, one for each work of art that inspired her, creating a beautiful and informed coffee-table book that makes the poems speak for themselves.
Threads
ISBN: 978-0-473-65686-7
pp130
Author: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications, 2020
Threads is a tangle of three poem sequences, the longest being ‘Geography of Loss’, which was performed under that name as a stage play in 2014.
‘Threads is a book about family – the genetic strands that run through generations; the ties of love and belonging … But it is also about damage and grief, and how to negotiate your way through dark passes – lockdown, cancer and a family history pieced together from fragment, myth and discovery. Uneasy poems for uneasy times, but woven through with love, beauty and hope … So that the work of healing can begin.’
– Joanna Preston
‘Geography of Loss is … fascinating and beautifully written ….’
– Stuart Hoar
Kōtuku Shining Flight
ISBN: 978-0-473-64537-3
Books: 1, 2, 3, 4 (compendium)
Author: Kathleen Gallagher
Editor: Karen Zelas
Cover and text design: Katy Yiakmis
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications with Wickcandle Press, 2022
Kōtuku Shining Flight takes its name from Book 1, containing new work. The three previously published books of poetry are also included in this publication: Tara (1987), Gypsy (1993) and Twilight Burns the Sky (200l).
‘Kathleen weaves together te ao mauri and her experiences of te ao wairua …’
– Te Awhina Arahanga
Fiona Kidman says the work is ‘Exquisite … interesting and image laden.’
‘… these poems trace a wide arc in delicate and precise language … ’
– Frankie McMillan
Anthology (n.) a collection of flowers
ISBN: 978-0-473-71056-9
pp113
Covers w flaps front and back
Multi-colour illustrations on every page
Author: Gail Ingram
Botanical photography: Gail Ingram
Cover art: Rata Ingram
Edited: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications
‘Like some mountain-climbing lovechild of Janet Frame and David Attenborough, Gail Ingram’s anthology is part field guide to the plants of Aotearoa New Zealand, part personal history and part fantastic coming-of-age-novel distilled to its essence as only poetry can.’
– Joanna Preston
‘It is a poetic natural history for the twenty-first century.’
– Erik Kennedy
‘… Playful and intimate, this lavishly illustrated collection will appeal to lovers of both plants and poetry.’
– Alison Glenny
Karen Zelas 