She is known for her Hugo Award–winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.

Vinge studied art in college, but eventually changed to a major in anthropology, and received a B.A.

She recovered to the point of being able to resume writing around the beginning of 2007,[2] and her first new book after the accident was the 2011 novelization of the movie Cowboys & Aliens.

Her stories have also appeared in Analog, Millennial Women, Asimov's Science Fiction, and several "Best of the Year" anthologies.

Her novel Psion was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association.