Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 1947 – 27 December 2021) was a celebrated New Zealand novelist, poet, and short-story writer. She wrote under the pseudonym Kai Tainui. Hulme gained international recognition with her award-winning novel The Bone People, which won the Booker Prize in 1985. She was the first New Zealander to win the award and notably, the first writer to win the prize for a debut novel. Her literary oeuvre explores themes of isolation, postcolonial and multicultural identity, and incorporates Maori, Celtic, and Norse mythology.

Born and raised in Otautahi, Christchurch, Hulme was the eldest of six children. Her father, a carpenter and first-generation New Zealander, passed away when Hulme was 11. Her mother, of Orkney Scots and Maori descent (Käi Tahu, Käti Mämoe), hailed from Oamaru. Hulme's contributions to the literary world extended beyond her publications; within New Zealand, she held writing fellowships at several universities, served on the Literary Fund Advisory Committee (1985–89) and the Indecent Publications Tribunal (1985–90), and was appointed ‘cultural ambassador’ while traveling in connection with The Bone People between 1986 and 1988.