Keri Hulme, whose 1984 novel, The Bone People, became the first work by a New Zealand author to win the prestigious Booker Prize, has died at 74, the Guardian reports.

No cause of death was given, but according to the New Zealand Herald, her nephew reported that she had been battling dementia for years.

Hulme was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, and worked as a tobacco picker while writing poetry. She made her literary debut in 1982 with The Silences Between: Moreaki Conversations, a poetry collection.

The Bone People, a magical realist novel that drew on her Māori heritage, followed two years later. The book was rejected by major presses,and eventually published by an independent feminist publisher, Spiral.

Hulme’s novel won the Booker Prize in what was considered a shock victory over more established authors like Doris Lessing and Iris Murdoch. Hulme, believing she didn’t have a shot at the prize, didn’t attend the ceremony; members of Spiral accepted the award on her behalf.

The Bone People would be Hulme’s only published novel, but she released a handful of poetry and short story collections in the years following her Booker win.

On Twitter, actor Adjoa Andoh paid tribute to Hulme, writing, “Rest in Power…Your novel The Bone People made [me] miss my stop on trains [and] lose myself in your world, one of the finest books I’ve ever read. I treasure hearing you read [and] meeting you in Toronto in 1987. You were kind to me.”

Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.