Our kaupapa

Reading makes life better.

It’s a superpower that can transform us.

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura helps grow generations of readers by advocating for reading in Aotearoa New Zealand and delivering programmes that incentivise reading and writing in schools and communities.

We run campaigns to encourage New Zealanders to read; research our reading habits and barriers to reading; and advocate for the importance of reading.

We also champion New Zealand storytelling in all its forms through our school and arts sector programmes.

Our special name expresses the concept of moving from darkness into light, as told in the Māori creation story. This metaphor can also be used to describe what happens during the process of reading.

'Muramura' is a glowing ember, flame or blaze, and 'pou' is an upright supporting post or pole. Te Pou Muramura speaks to the sustenance of a blaze, in the way that reading can spark a glow or light in our minds.

We reached 44,886 school students, from primary through secondary, in 13 regions across Aotearoa, engaging 90 writers and illustrators through our Writers in Schools programme. This is a 16% increase in reach on 2021.

The Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Governance Board identified four strategic goals for the next three years. We will focus on delivering programmes to underserved populations where we can have the greatest impact encouraging individuals to become lifelong readers.

With funding from the Mātātuhi Foundation, we developed the online resource Reading Stories from Aotearoa NZ, a curated list of NZ titles selected by Aotearoa English teachers for years 8 through 13 accompanied by free teaching resources. It has been downloaded over 900 times.

We ran two Reading Challenges in collaboration with Duffy Books and the Kiwi Conservation Club, engaging over 500 tamariki who together read 4,121 books.

We delivered 153 books free of charge to reviewers aged 12-19 years across Aoteara, and published a total of 123 student-written reviews on our Hooked on New Zealand Books He Ao Ano website.

Our annual Pānui, this year titled The Heart of the Matter, was written and delivered by Dame Fiona Kidman.

We added fourteen new Writers Files to our database of over 700 records on NZ writers.

We released our Horizon National Reading Survey with new research into the reading habits of New Zealanders.

We collaborated with sector partners to support important initiatives such as the Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador, the NZ Society of Authors Writers Toolkit series, literary festivals and events, and resources for NZ books in classrooms.

We evaluate the impact of our work in many ways, to ensure that we are always making the biggest difference for the people we are trying to reach:

• We conduct structured evaluation of our programmes and use the findings to inform future mahi
• We monitor the reach of our programmes, ensuring we are engaging communities across Aotearoa New Zealand
• We review and share external research to ensure our work builds on the most up-to-date evidence
• We undertake our own research to help understand how we are reading and how we can encourage more New Zealanders to read more
• We work with other organisations to help amplify our work.

Established in 1972 as a response to the UNESCO International Year of the Book, Fiona Kidman was the founding secretary of the New Zealand Book Council. Under her wise guidance and that of the first honorary president the late Sir Keith Sinclair, the organisation delivered a range of programmes and initiatives aimed at increasing interest in books and reading and the profession of writing.

In her 2022 Pānui, Kidman explains its genesis:

“I answered an advert in the newspaper’s Situations Vacant column for the job as first secretary or organiser of the New Zealand Book Council. I was interviewed by Roy Parsons, of Parsons Books on Lambton Quay…

“Under the general umbrella of the New Zealand Book Trade, an organisation drawn from the national booksellers and publishers associations, the Council was honouring International Book Year. Its purpose was to link booksellers, publishers, writers, educators, and librarians, to discuss and act upon book related issues of common interest. The Council planned to reach disadvantaged readers through its activities, as well as pursuing the more commercial strand of increasing interest in books and attracting higher sales.”

“Roy asked me to comment on these aims and ambitions. I wondered aloud if it might be worth inviting writers to go and talk to school kids about writing. Call it Writers in Schools, I suggested. Roy nodded vigorously. ‘I’m going to recommend you get this job,’ he said.”

In 1973, the Council delivered ‘Operation Book Flood’ where 500 books were distributed to many classrooms in South Auckland and the impact evaluated. The greater availability of books stimulated students to read and their literacy improved.

Joining Sinclair on the Board were noted educationalists Dr Clarence Beeby and Patrick Macaskill.

Writers in Schools got underway from 1973, with Noel Hilliard, Margaret Mahy, Mona Williams and Joy Cowley among the first touring authors. That same year, the Council ran a seminar called The Changing Shape of Books, a collection of talks where literary leaders tried to guess what lay ahead for their sector.

In the mid-1990s, Kidman, then a working author, was appointed chair of the board. During this period, new programmes such as Writers Visiting Prisons and Words on Wheels were added to existing activity.

In the 2000s, the Book Council Lecture (now Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Pānui) was revived and is now an annual tradition, delivered by a range of authors including Eleanor Catton, Ben Brown (Ngāti Māhuta, Ngāti Koroki, Ngāti Paoa) and Lani Wendt Young.

In 2019 The New Zealand Book Council became Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Today Read NZ Te Pou Muramura remains true to the kaupapa of our founders. We retain a deep commitment to promoting reading for pleasure, and the benefits of, to all communities of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura is governed by a passionate and active Board of Directors, supported by Patrons Albert Wendt ONZ CNZM; Dame Fiona Kidman DNZM OBE; and Chair Emeritus Peter Biggs CNZM.

The benefits of reading for pleasure – that is, reading we do of our own free will purely for enjoyment - are lifelong for children and for adults, for the individual and for the collective good. 

Put simply, reading for pleasure makes us smarter, happier, and healthier. 

The role of reading for pleasure for our tamariki is strongly associated with their learning and development. 

Reading for pleasure is strongly associated with achievement in literacy skills.

Reading is one of the most accessible arts activities to exist. It is a proven poverty buster, leading to better literacy and improved overall education levels, to social, cultural and economic wellbeing.

The OECD considers a love of reading to be the most important indicator of the future success of a child, more important even than socio-economic status. 

Reading for pleasure makes us happier. It is strongly correlated with positive impacts on mental health and wellbeing, including improving relationships with others and feeling connected to one’s identity and community.

Reading for pleasure builds stronger communities, reading fiction builds empathy – growing understanding of ourselves and importantly, of others.

Reading for pleasure has health benefits too, including reducing stress. Mindlab International’s research found that tension eased and heart rates slowed down in subjects who read silently for as little as six minutes.

Our programmes are a vehicle through which people, especially children and young people, can fall in love with books and reading and help create a reading habit for life.

Research on the power of reading for pleasure 

• Reading for pleasure in reading communities: a literature review (National Library of New Zealand)
• Services to Schools research round-up (National Library of New Zealand)
• Reading for pleasure: a research overview (National Literacy Trust UK, 2006)
• Reading for Change (OECD research, 2000)
• Research evidence on reading for pleasure (UK Government, 2012)