Media
Media packs and releases
18 December 2019: National Library makes more room for New Zealand and Pacific stories
The National Library holds millions of books stored carefully beneath the road under Molesworth St in Wellington and in storehouses outside Wellington.
Read the National Library makes more room for New Zealand and Pacific stories media release
10 December 2019: Chris Knox tape archive arrives at Alexander Turnbull Library
The Flying Nun Foundation is delighted to announce that the tape archive of Chris Knox, which captures years of vital musical history, is to be preserved by the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Read the Chris Knox tape archive arrives at Alexander Turnbull Library media release
21 November 2019: Antarctic Treaty 60th anniversary gift to NZ schools - new wall map of Antarctica
The New Zealand Antarctic Society (NZAS) with support from Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has produced a new custom-designed wall map of Antarctica to mark the anniversary of the Antarctica Treaty on 1 December.
Read the Antarctic Treaty 60th anniversary gift to NZ schools - new wall map of Antarctica media release
22 October 2019: Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa prioritise collections to preserve New Zealand and Pacific stories
The National Library of New Zealand is looking to find a better home for some of their overseas published books as part of a programme that will ensure New Zealand and Pacific knowledge and memories are collected and preserved for future generations.
Read Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa prioritise collections to preserve New Zealand and Pacific stories media release
23 September 2019: Rangatahi take part in popular creative writing competition — Smart Alex
‘Outstanding’, ‘high calibre’ and ‘skilfully composed’ — these are some of the words used to describe the incredible creative work of our rangatahi who entered the 2019 Smart Alex competition.
Read the Rangatahi take part in popular creative writing competition — Smart Alex media release
17 September 2019: Pūkana exhibition open at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
A celebration of iconic Māori moments in performance officially opened at the National Library of New Zealand last night.
Read the Pūkana exhibition open at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa media release
17 September 2019: Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision moves to the National Library building
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, the audiovisual archive for Aotearoa New Zealand, has announced that its Wellington-based staff will begin work at their new offices within the National Library Building in Wellington on Monday, 23 September.
Read the Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision moves to the National Library building media release
10 September 2019: Waiata taking off at Wellington Airport during te wiki o te reo Māori
Beautiful harmonies, melodic symphonies, and goose bump inducing haka will be in the air at Wellington Airport this week.
Read the waiata taking of at Wellington Airport media release
23 August 2019: New Poet Laureate announced
The National Library of New Zealand is delighted to announce that David Eggleton of Dunedin is the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2019 – 2021.
Read the new Poet Laureate announced media release
19 August 2019: New central Wellington library space named
The new central city library service being developed in the National Library has been given the name He Matapihi Molesworth Library.
Read the new central Wellington library space named media release
25 July 2019: The fast pace of a fast-talking PI Poet Laureate
A whirlwind two-year tenure is coming to an end for New Zealand Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh.
Read the fast pace of a fast-talking PI Poet Laureate media release
28 May 2019: New Zealand Poet Laureate Award – call for public nominations
The National Library of New Zealand invites nominations for the next New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Read the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award – call for public nominations media release
16 May 2019: Rip It Up live on Papers Past
Remember when the pub manager killed the power during a gig by Flying Nun Band The
Clean? Were you there when someone sang 'Flick, the Little Fire Engine' at a Toy Love gig?
Read the Rip It Up live on Papers Past media release
9 April 2019: Wahine 50 Charitable Trust’s collected stories donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library
On Wednesday 10 April, Wahine Day, the Alexander Turnbull Library will make available 60 personal accounts of the Wahine disaster collected by the Wahine 50 Charitable Trust as part of last year’s 50th commemorations.
Read the Wahine 50 Charitable Trust's donation media release
8 March 2019: Warm Pacific Greetings from Smart Alex
Calling all young creative minds! After last year’s success the Smart Alex creative writing competition is back.
Read the Smart Alex 2019 media release
4 February 2019: DNA test confirms blank parchment is part of Treaty of Waitangi
A blank piece of parchment (prepared animal skin historically used for writing) believed to have been from Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been confirmed to be so, with DNA analysis proving it shares the same genetic composition as the lower part of the iconic Waitangi sheet.
Read the DNA testing of Treaty of Waitangi blank parchment media release
26 November 2018: Jack Lovelock Papers and Cambodian women oral history inscribed to Memory of the World
Two Alexander Turnbull Library collections have been selected by UNESCO as significant and important pieces of New Zealand memory that should be preserved for all time.
Read the Memory of the World media release
15 November 2018: Holocaust Memorial Exhibition launches in New Zealand
The Children’s Holocaust Memorial will be officially launched at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington on 15 November 2018.
Read the Holocaust Memorial media release
21 September 2018: Alexander Turnbull Library secures significant art archive
The archive of charismatic art dealer Peter McLeavey has been acquired by The Alexander Turnbull Library.
Read the significant art archive media release
14 September 2018: Smart Alex Creative writing winners announced
Creative minds are flourishing across New Zealand. Secondary school students from across the country were invited to engage with taonga in the Turnbull collections to connect with their heritage and spark their creative minds.
Read the Smart Alex winners media release
13 July 2018: Flying Nun lands in 100 year old Alexander Turnbull Library
The Alexander Turnbull Library will be striking a chord with music fans this week, after Flying Nun Record’s collection of master tapes touches down safely in its protective vaults. The Turnbull Library is a part of the National Library of New Zealand.
Read the Flying Nun media release
26 June 2018: Hikoi remembering Alexander Turnbull — 1918–2018
Staff and friends of the Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand and Archives New Zealand will walk a memorial hikoi on Thursday 28 June, marking 100 years since Alexander Turnbull's death and the gift of his library to the people of New Zealand.
17 May 2018: Daniel Beban named as Lilburn Research Fellow 2019
The Alexander Turnbull Library and the Lilburn Trust are delighted to announce that Daniel Beban has been awarded the prestigious Lilburn Research Fellowship for 2019.
Read the Daniel Beban media release
20 March 2018: Topp Twins exhibition opens at National Library of New Zealand
Iconic Kiwi musicians and entertainers, the Topp Twins, celebrate more than 40 years in the business with a new exhibition at the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa in Wellington this month.
Read the Topp Twins media release
13 March 2018: Rare 15th Century books donated to National Library of New Zealand
A collection of rare books printed more than 500 years ago and valued at nearly $200,000 have been donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.
Read the rare books media release
29 November 2017: Wellington’s heritage institutions are celebrating a UNESCO award
The Alexander Turnbull Library’s New Zealand Official Photographs, World War 1914-1918 and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s Kaleidoscope – a weekly television arts documentary programme 1976-1988, are two new inscriptions on the Memory of the World New Zealand documentary heritage register.
9 November 2017: All Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand now online
A joint project between the Royal Society and the National Library has made the issues of the Transactions from 1961 to 1970 available on Papers Past.
Read the Transactions online media release
25 October 2017: The Lilburn Lecture 2017: Twin passions for Royal
Indigenous creativity takes centre stage at the National Library next week.
Read the Lilburn Lecture media release
9 Whiringa-ā-nuku 2017: Kua riro mai i a He Tohu ngā tohu hoahoa ā-motu
E whitu ngā tohu i riro mai i a, He Tohu, i Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa i Ngā Tohu Hoahoa Hira Rawa (Best Design Awards) a te Designers Institute of New Zealand i te Paraire te 6 o Whiringa-ā-nuku.
Read the He Tohu design awards media release
9 October 2017: He Tohu exhibition scoops national design awards
The new permanent exhibition, He Tohu, at the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa scooped seven awards in the Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards on Friday 6 October.
Read the He Tohu design awards media release
26 September 2017: Smoke incident
A minor electrical issue in a plant room in Rugby House, next to the National Library in Molesworth St, triggered a fire alarm late last night.
Read the incident media release
25 August 2017: NZ's new Poet Laureate announced
The National Library is delighted to announce that the 2017–2019 New Zealand Poet Laureate is Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh.
Read the Selina Tusitala Marsh release
19 June 2017: New Zealand Poet Laureate Award – call for public nominations
The National Library of New Zealand is inviting nominations for the next New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Read the Poet Laureate nomination release
11 April 2017: Help preserve your local history – get it online!
The National Library is calling on communities to protect their local history through helping digitise historic newspapers.
Read the Papers Past digitisation release
1 December 2016: Young New Zealanders first to benefit from Te Puna Foundation launch
The new charity has been established to fund new programmes to unlock the value of knowledge held in the National Library and provide greater access to ‘the memory of the nation’.
Read the Te Puna Foundation release
15 September 2016: Māori Curator awarded National Library of Australia Fellowship
Alexander Turnbull Library's Māori Curator, Paul Diamond has been given an opportunity to enhance description of Māori collections at the National Library of Australia.
15 April 2016: Victoria University and NLNZ offer new maps of human knowledge
A series of free public talks promoted by two iconic Wellington institutions will ask new questions about how to use maps in innovative ways.
5 January 2016: Historic South Island and Māori newspapers on Papers Past website
The National Library announces latest collection of newspapers that have been digitised and added to the Papers Past website.
14 October 2015: NLNZ opens a new programme on the cartography of New Zealand
A new exhibition showcasing the history of maps in New Zealand will open tomorrow at the National Library.
Read the Unfolding the map release
11 August 2015: New Poet Laureate announced
The National Library is delighted to announce Christian Karlson Stead of Auckland as the new Poet Laureate for 2015 - 2017.
4 May 2015: Call for nominations for the new Poet Laureate
The National Library of New Zealand is inviting nominations for the 2015-2017 New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Read the Poet Laureate release
2 April 2015: Services to Schools transformation
The National Library takes next step to modernise Services to Schools.
Read the Services to Schools transformation release
28 November 2014: Lilburn Research Fellow 2015 announced
The Lilburn Research Fellowship for 2015 has been awarded to Wellington writer and radio producer Chris Bourke.
Read the Lilburn Award release
18 August 2014: The Poet Laureate Programme presents Notes from the Front
The premiere of a World War 1 song cycle by Ross Harris and New Zealand’s Poet Laureate, Vincent O’Sullivan, will be performed at Wellington’s historic Old St Pauls.
Read the Notes from the Front release
3 August 2014: Opening the files on World War 1
More than 141,000 World War 1 service files are now available online, adding to the wealth of information made available by Archives New Zealand and the National Library.
Read the First World War files release
5 July 2014: An imaginary Antarctica at the Turnbull
An extremely rare copy of the first book to be printed in Antarctica is a feature of the latest Turnbull exhibition.
Read the Extreme South release
13 June 2014: Get the insiders’ guide to innovation
Some of Wellington’s most creative minds explore the link between creativity and innovation at the National Library.
Read the Creating Worlds release
27 March 2014: Singapore adopts NZ search service
A pioneering search service developed by DigitalNZ group has been adopted for use by the Singapore Government.
18 March 2014: DigitalNZ makes Radio New Zealand catalogue more accessible
Radio New Zealand’s vast catalogue of over 150,000 interviews and news items is now more accessible thanks to a new partnership with DigitalNZ.
Read the RadioNZ on DigitalNZ release
7 November 2013: Historian Beaglehole’s letters now available
A wonderful insight into New Zealand’s cultural life in the middle decades of last century is revealed in Professor John Cawte Beaglehole’s letters.
Read the J C Beaglehole release
21 October 2013: Fairytale facts
The story "Fairytale sex off the shelves" in the Sunday Star Times and Stuff (20 October 2013) is incorrect in saying that the graphic novel Lost Girls was 'pulled from the National Library Catalogue'. The story has now been corrected online.
Read the Fairytale facts release
16 October 2013: Booker win can inspire others
The success of Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton should inspire aspiring writers of all ages to start writing the next great New Zealand novel.
30 September 2013: Next in Line: The Young Cartoonist Award opens
You are invited to take a close look at New Zealand’s social and political landscape through the eyes of up-and-coming cartoonists at the next exhibition at the Turnbull Gallery.
Read the Next in Line media release
23 September 2013: Central Otago newspaper helps Papers Past reach 3 million pages
Historic editions of the Mt Ida Chronicle are among the more than three million pages of New Zealand newspapers now available online.
Read the Papers Past media release
16 August 2013: New Laureate announced on Poetry Day
Vincent O’Sullivan is New Zealand’s new Poet Laureate.
Read the Poet Laureate media release
29 July 2013: From logs to blogs
Logs to Blogs: Diaries from the Turnbull Library opens in the Turnbull Gallery at the National Library in Wellington on 29 July.
Read the Logs to Blogs media release
12 July 2013: Burt Munro’s pistons and Katherine Mansfield’s typewriter
The pistons were made by New Zealand motorbike racer Burt Munro, and they are as much a part of the collection as Katherine Mansfield’s typewriter.
Read the Burt Munro media release
1 July 2013: Helping save our local history
The National Library is inviting groups from throughout New Zealand to apply to have their historic newspapers digitised and put online as part of the Library’s Papers Past project.
Read the collaborative digitisation media release
18 June 2013: A fresh look at women in Aotearoa New Zealand
Tirohia Mai / Look At Us Now is the first exhibition in 20 years to focus on the contribution of women to making New Zealand what it is today and will be tomorrow.
Read the Tirohia Mai media release
17 June 2013: Nominations called for Poet Laureate
The National Library of New Zealand is inviting nominations for the next New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Read the Poet Laureate media release
10 June 2013: Snapshot of heartland New Zealand on Papers Past
From colonial Lyttelton to pre-Second World War Upper Hutt, the latest additions to the Papers Past website offer a fascinating cross-section of life in 19th and 20th century New Zealand outside the main centres.
Read the Papers Past media release
28 May 2013: Songs of protest at the Turnbull
New Zealand’s rich history of protest music is featured in an exhibition designed to be seen and heard, at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.
Read the Revolting! media release
12 May 2013: 40 years of history from the pages of the NZ Herald
The New Zealand Herald’s coverage of some of the most significant and dramatic events in the history of New Zealand, including the First World War, is being made freely available on Papers Past.
Read the NZ Herald media release
4 April 2013: Real story behind Hollywood’s Argo donated to Turnbull Library
A document throwing light on the dramatic, real-life story of how New Zealand diplomats helped save the American hostages featured in the movie Argo has been donated.
30 March 2013: Unpublished D. H. Lawrence manuscript discovered in Turnbull Library
A previously unknown piece by celebrated literary giant D. H. Lawrence has been discovered in papers recently made available by the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Read the D. H. Lawrence media release
13 February 2013: Alexander Turnbull’s parents reunited for Valentine’s Day
The parents of Alexander Turnbull will be reunited tomorrow when two large oil paintings of them are hung in the newly refurbished National Library.
Read the oil painting media release
13 February 2013: Newly discovered Mansfield story in Turnbull Library
A previously unknown story by Katherine Mansfield has been discovered in papers recently made available by the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Read the new Mansfield short story media release
30 November 2012: Big Data opens new-look National Library
A suitably immense subject is the opening public programme for the newly refurbished National Library building on Wellington’s Molesworth Street.
Read the Big Data media release
27 November 2012: Reopening Molesworth Street
The National Library is reopening its Molesworth Street home to the world. See Te Ahumairangi, the Library's new ground floor space, for the first time. Grab photos, background information, and media releases.
Get the Te Ahumairangi Opening media pack
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For media related queries, arranging an interview, or filming at the library, please contact us on 027 535 8639 or email media@dia.govt.nz.