Lois Lowry was born on March 20, 1937, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and the University of Southern Maine, where she earned her bachelor's degree in English in 1972.

Lowry divides her time between an apartment on Boston's Beacon Hill and an 1840 farmhouse in New Hampshire.

Her novel Number the Stars won the Newbery Medal in 1990.

Lowry writes about the ordinary events and emotions of everyday life, such as first dates, making friends, embarrassment, and fear of failure. Lowry often contrasts the imagined and wished dreams of the young with the realities that they must confront.