Book Launch: The Sculptor from Rūnanga

Join us on Thursday the 21st of May to launch Paul Maunder’s new novel, The Sculptor from Rūnanga.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase (for the special price of $24) and Paul will be signing copies. Paul is a director and playwright — you may recognise him as the director of Sons for the Return Home.

The Sculptor from Rūnanga follows an elderly West Coast-based sculptor as he goes on a hunger strike to protest against the Gaza genocide. A political innocent, from making a one man stand in Greymouth’s civic square, he is swept into the growing protest movement, finding his own voice, before being ‘disappeared’ by the US government. A historian, discovering his journal, fleshes out the personal story through interviewing the diverse people the sculptor from Rūnanga has come in contact with during his journey to martyrdom. 

Thursday, 21 May 2026, 6:30pm at Book Haven, 160 Riddiford St, Newtown.