Unity Books Wellington and Tuwhiri warmly invite you to celebrate the launch of Crete 1941 by Bernard Cadogan (Tuwhiri). Bernard will be Zooming in for a conversation with the Rt Hon Trevor Mallard MP.

Registration for this event is required so please register here for a free ticket.
If you can’t make it to Unity Books you can register for the Zoom event at: https://lu.ma/tuwhiri

Our capacity for safe distancing is 50. You can enter from 6pm, we will check your ticket at our Willis St entrance and you will be asked to sanitize your hands and scan our QR code. Manual contact tracing also available.There will be no food or drinks available under current alert level restrictions.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Crete 1941 is a 2475-line epic poem about the New Zealand-led defence of Crete between 20 May and 1 June 1941 during the Battle of Crete

In this poem, Bernard Cadogan tells the story of what small nations such as Greece and Aotearoa New Zealand have had to do to uphold international law, and of the extraordinary extent which indigenous citizenship, such as Māori possess, contributes to the international personality of a country.

The entry of the 28th (Māori) Battalion as an active combat force provides the culmination of the poem. More than just a war story, Crete 1941 brings women back into the historic struggle for Crete.

The poem is a life-changing reflection on the virtue of good small nations, on the contribution of indigenous people such as Māori and Cretans to international developments, and on the fragility that both peace and its disruptors share.