Sudden Valley is to be found on a track in the south east corner of Arthurs Pass National Park, in Te Waipounamu/the South Island. It is a sudden opening out of a fairly narrow valley into a broader expanse.
The co-founder of Sudden Valley Press, the late John O’Connor, chose the name Sudden Valley to encompass the surprise and broadening of understanding that good poetry leads to.
Our Mission
Sudden Valley Press (SVP) is a not-for-profit press specialising in providing publishing opportunities for excellent poetry books by New Zealand poets. To date, we’ve produced over thirty books of poetry. These have often been the debut collections from poets who first performed their works in the long-running poetry readings series held by the Canterbury Poets Collective.
We believe that much excellent poetry remains uncollected mainly because of the cost of publishing. Unlike purely commercial publishers, the SVP approach is collaborative, with production costs being shared between authors and the press. But our aims remain the same – to produce spectacular books of high quality poetry.
Please note that we are only open to unsolicited submissions during the month of May each year, or as part of the biennial John O’Connor First Book Award.
Our Team
David Gregory is one of the founders of Sudden Valley Press. He is the author of three poetry collections published in New Zealand – Always Arriving, Frame of Mind, (both by Sudden Valley Press) and Push (Black Doris Press). His poetry has appeared widely in publications and anthologies and he has performed his work here and in the UK. He was a member of the Canterbury Poets Collective for over 20 years. His fourth collection, Based on a True Story, will be published by SVP in mid 2024. As well as being one of three editors, David is the manager of SVP, and also handles distribution of SVP titles.
Joanna Preston is the author of two award-winning poetry collections, The Summer King (Otago University Press, 2009) and tumble (OUP, 2021). She runs The Poetry Class, teaches at Hagley Writers’ Institute, has edited/co-edited poetry collections, anthologies and literary magazines, and is a committee member of the Canterbury Poets’ Collective. Joanna officially joined SVP as an editor in 2022. In addition to editing, Joanna manages the individual projects of SVP.
Jeni Curtis is the author of stone men, selected by Elizabeth Smither as a runner up in the 2022 John O’Connor Award for a First Poetry Collection. A widely published poet, she served as editor of the Christchurch branch of the international Dickens Fellowship publication, Dickens Downunder, from 2012–2020, and as poetry editor for takahē magazine from 2017–2021. A former member of the Canterbury Poets’ Collective committee, she joined SVP as an editor in late 2023. As well as editing, Jeni works on layout of SVP books.
Marisa Cappetta graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Hagley Writers’ Institute. Widely published in New Zealand and international journals and anthologies, her first collection, How to tour the world on a flying fox, was published by Steele Roberts published in 2016, and Sudden Valley Press published her second collection, Tender Insurrections, in 2023/4. Marisa manages the finances for both Sudden Valley Press and the Canterbury Poets’ Collective.
Sudden Valley Press 