Biographer, ghost-writer, scriptwriter, and journalist.
Margot Hilton was educated in the United Kingdom and attended Leeds University where she gained a BA English Honours in 1971 and a MA Drama & Theatre Arts in 1972. She also studied Chinese language & institutions, Politics, Spanish, French and German.
In the late 1960s, Margot Hilton worked in costumes for the National Theatre at the Old Vic (London), and between 1971 and 1972, she was a lecturer in drama and British culture at Poznan University in Poland. After a period at the EMMA Theatre Company (UK), she took a position with the Victorian Ministry for the Arts. During the 1980s and 1990s, she worked as a script-writer for a number of organisations, including the Grundy Organisation, Platypus Films (UK), Channel 10, and the ABC Radio Comedy Unit.
Hilton has held several prestigious literary positions. These include Publicity Manager for Angus and Robertson, Executive Secretary for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, Executive Officer for the Australian Society of Authors and Drama Officer for the Victorian Ministry for the Arts. She has written on issues which affect authors, including The Acquisition of Film Rights in Literary Properties (1984). Hilton has also written prose and drama, and scripts for television and radio. She has contributed to several Australian newspapers and in 1974 won the Arts Council Great Britain Grant, and a Literature Board Grant in 1980.
One of her lasting achievements has been the initiation of new services resulting in increased membership to the Australian Society of Authors. She also secured amendments to the Copyright Act to enable authors to be paid for the copying of their works and contributed to the establishment of the Copyright Agency Limited (the major Australian collector of fees derived from multiple copying).
Hilton has also contributed to the establishment of Writers' Centres in each Australian state and territory.
