I Know This Much is True - Keri Hulme

This week Spiritual Outlook begins a special six-part series in which Noelle McCarthy asks half a dozen well-known New Zealanders, "What are the things you believe in? What's it all about?" In asking some of our best-known Kiwis to open up on great lessons and how they learnt them, this series gives us a unique insight into how the things we choose to believe in turn us into the people we become. It all starts with a sentence," I know this much is true..." First up this week is Booker Prize winning author Keri Hulme.

In a secular country like New Zealand, conversations about faith can be thin on the ground. But everybody believes in something, even if it's only in doubt. "I Know This Much is True" is a series of interviews with interesting Kiwis who've found something to believe in, and are making it work. They're all sorts of different people, including an artist, two novelists, a former Prime Minister and a Man of God, but what they all have in common is their willingness to talk frankly and honestly about the nature of their spiritual life and how it affects their work.

Author Keri Hulme made history by winning the Booker Prize, and now finds God in nature in the Okarito Lagoon.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says she doesn't believe in God, she prefers to set goals instead.

Journalist turned novelist Tim Wilson speculates on what The Rapture might look like in Auckland (boring, and blue) and Max Gimblett explains how it's possible to reconcile the life of a world renowned painter with that of a Buddhist monk.

Funny and revealing, intimate and unadorned, these interviews are about coming to believe in something, and about how that process is different for us all.

Produced by Noelle McCarthy for Radio New Zealand National