Hulme lives at Okarito on the West Coast, and was Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago in 1978.
Her novel The Bone People won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction (1984) and the Booker Prize (1985).
She yesterday gave the closing lecture at a day-long symposium, titled "Dead Man's Ember: James K. Baxter and Robert Burns", held at the Otago Museum's Hutton Theatre.
During her talk, attended by about 40 people, she reflected on Burns' attitude to, and depiction of, animals in his writings.
Not all of his work was equally appealing, but she found herself "going back to, and back to" some of his poems and songs.
She reflected that Burns, who was a farmer as well as a lyricist, showed empathy with people and with many other creatures.
Hulme read several poems by Burns, reflecting on his frequent use of animals, and the "extraordinary range of creatures" involved.
One work showed his knowledge of horses, and elsewhere he mused on the life challenges faced by sheep and mice.
She noted Burns had been lauded for brilliantly vigorous conversation, and Baxter, also a former Burns Fellow, was known for his conversational skills.
The free public symposium, held by the University of Otago's Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, aimed to explore "Baxter's imaginative engagement with Burns's poetry and personality".
One of the organisers, Liam McIlvanney, who holds the university's inaugural Stuart Chair in Scottish Studies, praised Hulme for her "marvellous" talk.
The overall symposium had been "great", fruitfully bringing together many different perspectives, including from academics, and from other writers, Prof McIlvanney said in an interview.
Baxter, who died in 1972, aged 46, knew some of Burns' poems by heart from an early age. He subsequently reflected a great deal on Burns, including in several essays.
Other speakers included poet and former Burns Fellow Ian Wedde, of Wellington, Lawrence Jones, Prof McIlvanney, Dougal McNeill and John Stenhouse.
