Chapman was educated at Blackburn High School and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Social Science. She has worked in the area of Heritage and with the Victorian Police. She has traveled extensively and has lived in Australia, America and England.
Chapman has written many information books for children about heritage, the environment and science, amongst other topics, and is the author of children's readers in the Benchmark series. She has written plays in the UK Superscripts series for schools. She has also authored a magazine and monthly newspaper in character as 'Harold', a giraffe who is the national figurehead for Life Education, a drug education resource for Australian Schools.