Tuthill founded SCOP Publications, a small literary press, in 1976. She is the author of four full-length books of poems and two chapbooks, including: Painting in the Dark (2007), House of Change (1996), Pennyroyal (1991), and Notes from a Learning Factory (1976). She also published a book of short stories, The Taste of Smoke (1995). Tuthill edited the anthologies Rye Bread: Women Poets Rising (1977) and Second Rising (1979), and the collection Laurels: Eight Women Poets (SCOP, 1998), which documented all the women who had served up to that time as U.S. Poets Laureate. Her honors include a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award and a fellowship from the Maryland State Arts Council. She is also a past president of the Maryland State Poetry Society.
Tuthill was married for 56 years to a Professor of Agriculture at the University of Maryland, Dean F. Tuthill. They raised four children.