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| Keri Hulme | |
Author Keri Hulme, an icon of New Zealand literature and the first Kiwi to win the Booker Prize, died December 27, Stuff NZ reported. She was 74. Her mother was Māori--Hulme was of Kāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe descent--while her father was of British heritage. Matthew Salmons, her nephew, said, "She gave us as a family, the greatest gift of all which would be reconnecting us with our Whakapapa Māori and reigniting that passion for our history, our people that had been lost over a couple of generations."
Hulme's novel The Bone People, which won the 1985 Booker, "tells the story of Kerewin Holmes, an elusive artist trying to escape her past," Stuff NZ wrote, adding that "despite going on to win widespread critical acclaim, the manuscript was turned down by many New Zealand publishers. Speaking in 2014, Hulme described how she shopped it around for 12 years before it was eventually published by Spiral in 1984. It went on to sell more than a million copies and has been translated into nine languages."
Hulme's other books include the poetry collection Lost Possessions; short story collections Te Kaihau: The Windeater and Stonefish; and a nonfiction work, Homeplaces: Three Coasts of the South Island of New Zealand. She also "began two other novels, each running to hundreds of pages, but they were never finished, despite significant advances from publishers," Stuff NZ wrote.
Historian Bruce Harding, a friend of Hulme since meeting her in 1987, described her as a "peaceful, quiet person of firm conviction" who helped "put New Zealand on the global literary map.... She was a bridge builder between Māori and Pākehā at a really important time in New Zealand history." The Bone People was a "confronting" work when it was published, he observed. "The core of the novel, which caused some people a lot of disquiet, was that it described extreme violence against a child. It was the detail and the angst and the incredible way that she could capture emotional states in the book that were probably very confronting."
Speaking on behalf of the government, environment minister David Parker said Hulme "made a huge mark on literature in Aotearoa and leaves an enduring legacy. Keri Hulme was one of the true greats of storytelling in New Zealand and one of our most celebrated authors. With themes of love, isolation and unity, The Bone People is a unique and important novel which made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature. Our condolences go to Keri's whānau and friends."
The Bone People "is not a book readers feel indifferent about," Stuff NZ wrote. "Instead, its fans cherish it and re-read it," including 2019 Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo, who tweeted: "It was an outsider story told by an outsider in an outsider way. So long, Keri Hulme, you inspired me."
Hulme was a fellow of the Academy of New Zealand Literature. Speaking for the academy, Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Whatua writer Paula Morris said "professional jealousy" had been directed at Hulme, whose Māori whakapapa and point of view was questioned and sometimes derided. "The Booker win gave her international status and sales," Morris said. "In all the decades I lived in other countries, the one New Zealand novel that was cited as read (and loved) more than any other was The Bone People. Perhaps the scale of that success made it difficult for her to complete, or to release to the world, a second novel. Or perhaps it's just another example of Keri playing her own game."