Iris Wilkinson was born in South Africa and came to New Zealand as an infant. She was educated in Wellington. After she left school, she worked for a while as a journalist on The Dominion newspaper. She began writing seriously after suffering permanent injury in an accident, working mainly as a freelance writer, using the pseudonym, Robin Hyde. Her verse and prose was widely published by New Zealand and Australian papers. Her first publication The Desolate State, a small volume of poetry, appeared in 1934 and her first volume of prose, Journalese in the same year. She developed quickly as a writer, publishing 5 prose works and 2 volumes of verse between 1936 and 1938. She died in London on 23 August 1939.