Hilaire is a writer of poetry and fiction. Her poetry often focuses on nature, particularly in an urban setting. Her short stories and novels explore identity, family and subtleties of emotion, often with a strong sense of place.

She is co-author with Joolz Sparkes of 'London Undercurrents' (Holland Park Press, 2019), for which she researched and wrote poems in the voices of some of Battersea's unsung heroines. Hilaire's collaboration with the artist Stephen Graham, 'indoors looking out' (lower case press, 2020), features haiku and tanka written in response to lockdown.

She was poet-in-residence at Thrive Battersea in 2017 and Highly Commended in the 2019 Live Canon International Poetry Prize. Her novel 'Hearts on Ice' was published by Serpent's Tail in 2000, and short stories have been published in many magazines and several anthologies. Hilaire is an assured performer of her poetry and has been a featured reader at a number of poetry events. She also worked as a tour guide on the Battersea Power Station construction site in 2017.