Kathryn Hulme died on August 25, 1981, in Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii, at the age of 81.
Kathryn Hulme died on August 25, 1981, in Kapaa on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, where she had spent much of her later life in a devoted, decades-long partnership with sculptor and fellow writer Marie-Louise Habets, the Belgian former nun whose own life story inspired Hulme's most celebrated book, The Nun's Story.
By the time of her death at age 81, Hulme had built a substantial literary legacy spanning travel writing, humanitarian memoir, biography, and spiritual autobiography. Her passing was marked by an obituary in The New York Times, which recognized her as the author of The Nun's Story, the bestselling novel that had been adapted into a critically acclaimed 1959 film starring Audrey Hepburn, earning eight Academy Award nominations.
Hulme's death closed a remarkable chapter of 20th-century American letters. She had witnessed and documented some of the most consequential humanitarian crises of her era, engaged deeply with Gurdjieffian spiritual philosophy, and given voice to the inner lives of women navigating faith, duty, and personal conscience. Her papers, including correspondence, manuscripts, and personal documents, are archived at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, ensuring that scholars and historians continue to have access to her literary and personal legacy long after her death in Hawaii, a place that had become her final home and sanctuary.