Wilkinson was born in Melbourne, the daughter of prominent children's author, Carole Wilkinson, and film and television sound recordist, John Wilkinson. She attended Spensley Street Primary School and Mac.Robertson Girls' High School and has referred to her high school self as "a bit of a nerd". Heavily involved in drama, in Year 7 she played Aphrodite in a musical version of The Odyssey.

Wilkinson has talked about remembering the day when, at age six, she learnt to read 'in her head' and has been immersed in the world of books ever since. She was first published at age eleven in Voiceworks, a creative writing magazine for young people.

Before completing an honours degree in Creative Arts at Melbourne University, Wilkinson spent six months living and working in Japan as an English teacher.

Wilkinson has spoken of her love for the work of Diana Wynne Jones, David Almond and Lewis Carroll in interviews. She has also revealed that Shaun Tan is her favourite illustrator. She has been quoted as saying: "My favourite books would be Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. Oh, and Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. And The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt. Do I have to stop there?" black dog books | authors & illustrators | Lili Wilkinson

Novels

• The Story of Jehanne Darc (2006)
• Scatterheart (2007)
• The Not-Quite Perfect Boyfriend (2008)
• Pink (2009)
• Angel Fish (2009)

Anthologies

• Short (editor) (2008)

Short Stories

"The Babysitter" in Trust Me (edited by Paul Collins) (2008)

Miscellaneous

"Fantastic Worlds" & "In Defense of Pink Books" in Right Book Right Time (Agnes Nieuwenhuizen) (2007)