[4] As the daughter of a military officer, she and her family moved very often, mostly living in Europe (specifically Brussels, Belgium)[6] and the eastern part of America.

[8] She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University Bloomington in 1985 with a double major in theater and telecommunications.

[12] She worked on several shows for Nickelodeon, including Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, Oswald and Wow!

[12] She received a Writers Guild of America nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed 2001 Christmas special, Santa, Baby!

[12] Her inspiration for Gregor the Overlander, the first book of The New York Times best-selling series The Underland Chronicles, came from Alice in Wonderland, when she was thinking about how one was more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole, and would find something other than a tea party.

During that time, Collins also wrote a rhyming picture book, When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005), illustrated by Mike Lester.

[16] Lions Gate Entertainment acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of The Hunger Games, produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company.

[18] Directed by Gary Ross, filming began in late spring 2011, with Jennifer Lawrence portraying main character Katniss Everdeen.

[25] A film adaptation, starring Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, was released on November 17, 2023.

[26] On June 6, 2024, Collins announced that a new prequel to The Hunger Games, set 24 years before the events of the main trilogy, would release on March 18, 2025.