Tippett has also written, among others, books on the photography of Charles Gimpel, the parents of the AIDS scientist David Ho, Canadian war art and landscape painting in addition to two collections of short stories.
Raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Tippett travelled through Europe and the Middle East for three years following high school before attending Vancouver City College and Simon Fraser University.
In 1991 she married Professor Peter Clarke, British historian and former Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge University.
She lectured in South America, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia in addition to Canada and the United States.
In 1998, Tippett was appointed to The Canadian Memorial Foundation, Canada House in London, where she was a member of the board until 2005.