Hulme, << hyoom, >> Keri (1947-2021), was a New Zealand author best known for her first novel, The Bone People (1984). The work won the 1985 Booker Prize, the United Kingdom’s highest literary award. Like much of Hulme’s writing, The Bone People deals with the culture and language of New Zealand’s Māori people and reflects the author’s love of nature. Hulme closely identified with the Māori people and took great pride in being partly of Māori ancestry. The Bone People concentrates on three characters. One is a painter based on the author. The other two are a Māori factory worker and a mute boy washed ashore after a shipwreck.
Hulme was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 9, 1947. She studied at Canterbury University, Christchurch, and worked in various jobs, including woolen mill worker and cook. She became a full-time writer in 1972. Hulme settled in Okarito, a tiny coastal settlement on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. She spent more than 12 years writing The Bone People. Her other writings include a collection of short stories called Te Kaihau/The Windeater (1986) and two collections of poetry—The Silences Between: Moeraki Conversations (1982) and Strands (1992). She also wrote Stonefish (2004), a collection of short stories and poems. Hulme died on Dec. 27, 2021.
