Off the record | A welcome home

‘amazingly. wondrously, great’ book

In August 2022, the Alexander Turnbull Library purchased a typed manuscript of Keri Hulme's novel the bone people, at auction. This was the first novel from Aotearoa New Zealand and first debut novel to win the Booker Prize (1985). Subsequently translated into more than nine languages, the bone people still enjoys a high profile internationally.

Keri Hulme (Ngai Tahu, Kati Mamoe), who died on December 2021, had been unable to find a publisher for this work. It was eventually first published in 1984 by Spiral, a series of collectives, initially formed to produce a women's literary and arts journal. Author and poet Alice Walker wrote to Spiral in 1985 praising the ‘amazingly. wondrously, great’ book, indicating that she would have been keen to publish a US edition According to Spiral. Keri preferred the title of her novel written in lowercase, because ‘it signifies something coming before and something afterwards.

Multiple drafts of the bone people

The novel started life as a short story called Simon Peter's Shell and took 12 years to write. The novel has a uniquely intricate internal structure, and Keri noted in her preface to the first edition ‘To those tuned to one standard, this book may offer a taste passing strange, like the original mouthful of kina roe. Persist. Kina can become a favourite food.’

There are multiple drafts of the bone people. In a letter to Richard Hlavac in November 1986 (1), Keri described the manuscript purchased by the Library as ‘the revised penultimate version,’ given to her family. It is typed and contains many annotations in Keri's own hand. Marian Evans, a member of the Spiral collective that published the bone people, with Irihapeti Ramsden and Miriama Evans, helped Library staff with their research on the manuscript and the novel's history.

With Marian's help, staff were able to identify differences between the manuscript and the published novel, giving insights into Keri's writing process. Two later versions of the manuscript, one with the publishers’ annotations and printing marks, reside at The Macmillan Brown Library.

Other acquisitions relating to Keri Hulme

The newly acquired manuscript sits alongside other recent acquisitions relating to Keri Hulme In 2022, the family of Keri's British pen friend Ann Humphries donated four letters written by Keri between 1964 and 1967. Spiral has deposited its papers and other material with the Library.

A page from the manuscript of the bone people, showing annotations by Ken Hulme. Ref MS Paper-128002)

The novel continues to strike a chord with readers. Author and playwright Josiah Morgan (Kai Tahu, Ngati Maniapoto) praised the bone people, at the recent Samesame but Different LGBTQIA+ Writers and Readers Festival. The acquisition paves the way for researchers to do their own investigations, comparing the manuscript with the novel and other drafts.

More about Keri Hulme and Spiral

In 2022, Spiral published the eBook Keri Hulme: Our Kuru Pounamu, a celebration of Keri's life and work. The eBook is a collection of memories from fellow writers, whānau and people who worked with Keri. The book can be viewed at the Library in the Katherine Mansfield Reading Room.

You can listen to recordings of Keri Hulme reading excerpts from ‘the bone people’, on the Radio NZ website

Find out more about Spiral on the nzhistory website.

Footnotes

1. Letter from Keri Hulme to Richard Hlavac (Canterbury University Librarian), dated 1 November 1986.