Keri Hulme

Author profile

born

March 09, 1947 in Christchurch, New Zealand

gender

female

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Keri Hulme was a writer in residence at Otago University in New Zealand in 1978, and in 1985 at the University of Canterbury. Her first novel The Bone People won the Booker Prize in 1985. Hulme’s other works include The Windeater / Te Kaihu (1982), a collection of short stories, and Homeplaces (1989), her homage to three coasts of the South Island. She lives in New Zealand.

By 1985 Keri Hulme had already won several New Zealand awards for her writing, including the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award (1975), the Maori Trust Fund Prize (1977), the ICI Writing Bursary (1982) and the New Zealand Writing Bursary (1983). The bone people, her first novel, was awarded both the Mobil Pegasus Award and the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1984, t...more Keri Hulme was a writer in residence at Otago University in New Zealand in 1978, and in 1985 at the University of Canterbury. Her first novel The Bone People won the Booker Prize in 1985. Hulme’s other works include The Windeater / Te Kaihu (1982), a collection of short stories, and Homeplaces (1989), her homage to three coasts of the South Island. She lives in New Zealand.

By 1985 Keri Hulme had already won several New Zealand awards for her writing, including the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award (1975), the Maori Trust Fund Prize (1977), the ICI Writing Bursary (1982) and the New Zealand Writing Bursary (1983). The bone people, her first novel, was awarded both the Mobil Pegasus Award and the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1984, the year of its first publication.
The shortlist for the Booker Prize was announced on 30 September 1985. Hulme's The bone people was up against Illywhacker by Peter Carey, The battle of Pollocks Crossing by J.L. Carr, The good terrorist by Doris Lessing, Last letters from Hav by Jan Morris and The good apprentice by Iris Murdoch. Hulme didn't think her novel stood a chance against the competition and she wasn't alone: London bookies had The bone people at 5-1 odds. Their favourite was Lessing's The good terrorist. Meanwhile, Carey's publishers were so confident that they had a copy of Illywhacker ready to be reprinted with ‘Winner of the Booker Prize 1985' on the cover.
The decision was far from unanimous. Indeed, 1985 consistently appears on lists of Booker controversies and 'jury bust-ups'. Actress Joanna Lumley, who was on the judging panel, abhorred The bone people, believing it glorified violence against children. She could not attend the final judging but sent in her comments in advance and asked that she be contacted 'if it got to a scramble'. Booker's administrator, Martyn Goff, read out her comments in the face of opposition from the chair, politician Norman St John Stevas, who did not believe Lumley should have been on the panel in the first place. The panel was reportedly divided between Hulme's novel and Carey's, but Lumley was not called in. She was furious when she discovered that The bone people had been declared the winner.
Hulme did not attend the award ceremony at the Guildhall, London. At the time she was on a promotional tour of the United States and Canada. But friends and supporters Miriama Evans, Marian Evans and Irihapeti Ramsden were in the audience to hear the announcement and collected the award on her behalf. The three women were members of Spiral, the non-profit-making women's collective that had published the first two editions of Hulme's novel after other publishers sought substantial editing or revisions. When rung to be told of her win, Hulme commented: ‘You're not pulling my leg, are you? ... Bloody hell – it's totally unbelievable!'. It was not only New Zealand's first Booker Prize; it was the first time a first novel had ever won.
Hulme, who could look forward to royalties from increased sales of the book, gave the £15,000 (NZ$38,000) prize money to her mother and sister. Such was the demand for the book that it actually fell off the New Zealand bestseller list in January 1986 – not for lack of interest, but because the publishers ran out of copies. It has now sold over a million copies and has been translated into nine languages.
Since The bone people won the Booker Prize two other New Zealand novels have been in with a chance. Patricia Grace's Dogside story was longlisted in 2001, while Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip made it on to the short list in 2007. The latter lost out to Anne Enright's The gathering.(less)

combine editions
Books by Keri Hulme

Average rating: 4.05 · 6,259 ratings · 734 reviews · 10 distinct works

	The Bone People 4.05 avg rating — 6,184 ratings — published 1984 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Te Kaihau : The Windeater 3.68 avg rating — 69 ratings — 9 editions	My rating:
	Stonefish 3.52 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Strands 3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Lost Possessions 3.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1985	My rating:
	The Silences Between: Moeraki Conversations 3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1985	My rating:
	Homeplaces 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	My rating:
	Bait 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:
	The Inward Sun: Celebrating the Life and Work of Janet Frame by Elizabeth Alley, Keri Hulme, C.K. Stead 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1994	My rating:
	New Zealand Short Stories: Fourth Series by Lydia Wevers, Keri Hulme 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:

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Quotes by Keri Hulme

“I am in limbo, and in limbo there are no races, no prizes, no changes, no chances. There are merely degrees of endurance, and endurance never was my strong point.”
― Keri Hulme

12 people liked it

“The smarter you are, the more you know, the less reason you have to trust or love or confide.”
― Keri Hulme

tags: inspirational-attitude , inspirational-life

9 people liked it

“Why? is the boy's motto, why does, why is, why not? Food, weather, time, fires, sea and season, clothes and cars and people; it's all grist to the mill of why.”
― Keri Hulme, The Bone People

tags: curiosity

6 people liked it

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