Keri Hulme facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Keri Hulme
Hulme, 1983
Born	Kerry Ann Ruhi Hulme (1947-03-09)9 March 1947 Christchurch, New Zealand
Died	27 December 2021(2021-12-27) (aged 74) Waimate, New Zealand
Pen name	Kai Tainui
Occupation	Author
Notable works	the bone people (1984)

Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (born March 9, 1947 – died December 27, 2021) was a famous writer from New Zealand. She wrote novels, poems, and short stories. She also used the pen name Kai Tainui.

Keri Hulme's most famous book, The Bone People, won the important Booker Prize in 1985. This was a huge achievement! She was the first person from New Zealand to win this award. She was also the first writer to win the prize for their very first novel. Her stories often explored ideas about feeling alone, and about the mix of different cultures and histories in New Zealand. She also used ideas from Māori, Celtic, and Norse mythology in her writing.

Early Life and Growing Up

Keri Hulme was born on March 9, 1947, in Christchurch, New Zealand. She was the oldest of six children. Her father, John William Hulme, was a carpenter. Her mother, Mary Ann Miller, was a credit manager.

Keri's family had a mix of backgrounds. Her father's parents came from England. Her mother's family came from Oamaru in New Zealand, and had both Scottish and Māori roots. Her Māori ancestors were from the Kāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe tribes. Keri once said her family came from "diverse people" including Māori, Scottish, English, and Norwegian backgrounds.

Keri grew up in Christchurch. She went to North New Brighton Primary School and Aranui High School. She described herself as a "very determined child" who didn't like being told what to do without a good reason. When she was 11, her father passed away.

Keri was interested in writing from a young age. She would even rewrite stories by famous author Enid Blyton to make them how she thought they should be. She started writing poetry at age 12 and also wrote short stories. After her father's death, her mother made a special study space for her on their porch. Some of her early poems and stories were published in her high school magazine.

Her family often spent holidays with her mother's relatives at Moeraki, a coastal town. Keri felt a deep connection to Moeraki, calling it her turangawaewae-ngakau, which means "the standing-place of my heart."

After high school, Keri worked picking tobacco. She started studying law at the University of Canterbury in 1967. But she left after about two years because she didn't feel like she fit in. She went back to picking tobacco, but she never stopped writing.

Keri Hulme's Writing Career

Hulme with a catch of whitebait in 1983

By 1972, Keri Hulme had many notes and ideas for stories. She decided to try writing full-time. Her family helped her financially, but after nine months, she needed to go back to work.

She had many different jobs over the years. She worked in shops, cooked fish and chips, worked in a wool factory, and delivered mail. She was also a pharmacist's assistant and a journalist. She even worked as an assistant director for TV shows like Country Calendar and Play School. Through all these jobs, she kept writing. Her work was published in different magazines, sometimes using her pen name, Kai Tainui.

Keri received special grants to help her writing in 1973, 1977, and 1979. In 1979, she was invited to Hawaii as a visiting poet. She was also a writer-in-residence at the University of Otago in 1978. This meant she had time and support to focus on her writing. During this time, she continued to work on her novel, the bone people.

Publishing The Bone People

Keri Hulme sent her book the bone people to many publishers over 12 years. Finally, a group called the Spiral Collective agreed to publish it. This group was a feminist literary and arts collective in New Zealand.

The book was published in February 1984. It quickly won the 1984 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction. Then, in 1985, it won the prestigious Booker Prize. As mentioned, Keri was the first New Zealander and the first debut author to win this award.

Keri couldn't go to the Booker Prize ceremony herself. So, she asked three women from the Spiral Collective to accept the award for her. These women were Irihapeti Ramsden, Marian Evans, and Miriama Evans. They walked onto the stage wearing traditional Māori cloaks called korowai. They also chanted a Māori karanga, which is a call or welcome. This was a powerful moment that showed Māori culture to the world.

After winning the Booker Prize, Keri continued to be recognized for her writing. She was a writer-in-residence at the University of Canterbury in 1985. She also received a scholarship for her writing in 1990.

Keri started working on two more novels, BAIT and On the Shadow Side. She called them "twinned novels." These books were about fishing and death.

Keri often found inspiration for her characters and stories in her dreams. For example, she first dreamt of a quiet, long-haired boy when she was 18. She wrote a short story about him. This boy kept appearing in her dreams and eventually became the main character in the bone people.

Life in Ōkārito and Later Years

In 1973, Keri Hulme won a special lottery for land. She became the owner of a piece of land in a quiet coastal village called Ōkārito in south Westland, New Zealand. She built an eight-sided house there. She lived in Ōkārito for almost 40 years.

Keri strongly believed that Ōkārito should be protected. She didn't want too many new houses or tourist places built there. She felt it was a special place that needed government protection. In 2011, she announced she was leaving Ōkārito. She said that property taxes had become too expensive for her to live there.

Keri officially changed her first name to Keri in 2001, though her family had always called her that. Her birth name was Kerry.

Keri Hulme passed away from dementia on December 27, 2021. She was 74 years old and died at a care home in Waimate.

Works by Keri Hulme

Novels

• The Bone People (1984)
• BAIT and On the Shadow Side (unfinished)

Poetry

• The silences between (Moeraki Conversations) (1982)
• Lost Possessions (1985)
• Strands (1993)

Other Works

• Te Kaihau: The Windeater (1986), a collection of short stories
• Te Whenua, Te Iwi/The Land and The People (1987), co-edited with Jock Philips, includes her story "Okatiro and Moeraki"
• Homeplaces: Three Coasts of the South Island of New Zealand (1989), her autobiography
• Hokitika Handmade (1999), a book about a craft co-operative
• Ahua – the story of Moki (2000), the words for an opera based on a Māori ancestor
• Stonefish (2004), a collection of short stories and poems

Film Adaptation

In 1983, Keri Hulme's short story "Hooks and Feelers" was made into a short film with the same name.

Awards and Recognition

See also

In Spanish: Keri Hulme para niños

• New Zealand literature