Hopkinson was born February 4, 1952, in Lowell, Massachusetts[2] to Russell W. and Gloria D.
[1] Hopkinson is married to Andrew D. Thomas, and the couple has two children: Rebekah and Dimitri.
[4] Afterwards, she worked as a development director at the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation (1985 to 1989), then the East–West Center in Honolulu (1989 to 1994).
[4] For the next decade, she was the director of grants at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, after which she served as the director for foundation relations for the Oregon State University Foundation in Corvallis, Oregon.
[28] In 2017, Booklist included Steamboat School on their "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth" list.