Join us for the launch of Slender Volumes by Richard von Sturmer, Saturday 16 November, 2:30–4pm at Onehunga Community House, 83 Selwyn Street, Onehunga. This is the first release from new independent publisher, Spoor Books.

Slender Volumes locates the cypress trees of Buddhist folklore in Onehunga and the teachings of the Zen tradition along its foreshore. Elaborating on kōans collected by poet-philosopher Eihei Dōgen, each poem fastens centuries and distances together to find insight in everyday things: seagulls on a handrail, insects drinking from a pan of water, sump oil glistening in a white bucket.

Richard von Sturmer is an artist-activist turned Zen teacher, whose lyrics for punk bands formed the soundtrack to the nationwide protests of the ’80s, including Blam Blam Blam’s “There is No Depression in New Zealand.”

Spoor Books is an independent publisher, a community-oriented platform, and a bookshop featuring radical publishers from India and elsewhere. Based in Titirangi, Aotearoa New Zealand, we aim to connect readers with left-field inquiries and non-Western imaginaries. Spoor Books is led by Balamohan Shingade and Erena Shingade.