LD: What do you see happening in New Zealand literature now? How do you see it developing?
KH: If you'd asked me this even two years ago, I would have been alight with hope and energy and optimism and jibbering about the possibilities. Now I'm not quite so sure, because (a) the country is in one hell of a recession, and booksellers and publishers are feeling it as much as anybody else, and (b) a lot of the stimulation that publishers were giving writers, sending them signals and saying "yes, we're interested in the innovative and the voices from minorities and all the rest of it," well, they've backpedalled on that.
[From a telephone interview with Keri Hulme conducted by Laurelyn Douglas '91.]
