Nepi Solomon: Jubilee

By PETER CALDER

The stars will be out at the world premiere of the newest local film next week, but one man will be conspicuous by his absence: the writer of the book it was based on.

Jubilee, starring Cliff Curtis and Theresa Healey, is a good-natured comedy about a group of small-town hard cases arranging the 75th anniversary celebrations of the local school.

The film will premiere simultaneously at 17 cinemas from Whangarei to Invercargill.

But the man whose idea it was won't be there and his identity and whereabouts remain a mystery.

The book is attributed to one Nepi Solomon, although that may not be his real name. He served a term in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo and has lived in the King Country and on the East Coast since his release.

"Usually you can't keep the writers away," said producer Bill Gavin of South Pacific Pictures. "But we've never met him or spoken to him."

Bob Ross, of Tandem Press, who published Jubilee in 1994, was equally unable to help.

"It's as much of a mystery to us as it is to you," he said. "When the manuscript came to us he was quite adamant he didn't want to meet anyone."

Mr Ross said he dealt exclusively with Solomon's agent, Yvonne Kalman, herself an accomplished novelist.

A New Zealander, she lives in a remote village in Spain.

"I'm really disappointed that he won't be there," she said yesterday.

"But I'm not really surprised. People find it hard to understand why you would not want to be famous and have all your friends enjoy your fame, but once you have stepped out it is a one-way door and there is no going back."

Yvonne Kalman said Solomon's shyness was "quite a complicated story" but said he had written to her in the early 1980s saying the Roddy Doyle book The Snapper had inspired him to write. He wanted advice.

The letter bore the return address "Private Bag, Albany" and she suggested he attend night classes.

"He wrote back saying he was halfway through a short prison term and I decided to help him because I liked his way with words."

She declined to say what he had been convicted of. It was "something quite serious but not anything horrid; more something botched."

She said that she had put "as much into the book as he did, working and shaping it, but all the ideas are his."

Yvonne Kalman said she had wanted to return to New Zealand for the premiere and had called Solomon to encourage him to come too.

"But the person who answered the phone told me that he said no and gave no reason.

"I think it's a much better story to say he doesn't exist and that the book wrote itself."