Born in
Toronto, Ontario, Robertson moved to
British Columbia in 1979, first living on Saltspring Island, then in Vancouver, where studied English literature and art history as a mature student at
Simon Fraser University (1984–1988) before leaving the university without a degree to become an independent bookseller (1988–1994). She owned Proprioception Books, a bookstore in downtown
Vancouver specializing in poetry, theory and criticism, where she also hosted readings. During the 90s, she was also a member of
The Kootenay School of Writing, which was a writer-run collective, and Artspeak Gallery. She began to publish and work collectively in this community of poets and artists. Her first book was a
chapbook,
The Apothecary, published by Tsunami Editions in 1991. Since then she has published nine books of poetry, three books of essays, and a novel.
Anemones: A Simone Weil Project, her 2021 book, contains Robertson's translations of
Simone Weil's 1941 essay "What the Occitan Inspiration Consists Of" and the 12th C poem "Lark" by
Bernart de Ventadorn, as well as extensive annotations, an introductory essay, and archival material. In 2006, Robertson was a judge of the
Griffin Poetry Prize and Holloway poet-in-residence at
UC Berkeley. In 2017 she was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by
Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, and in 2018 she received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts C.D. Wright Award. Her literary archive is housed at Simon Fraser University Library's Special Collections. Her first novel,
The Baudelaire Fractal, was published by Coach House Books in January 2020. It was a finalist for the
ReLit Award for fiction in 2021, and for the
Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the
2020 Governor General's Awards. It was published in Jeannot Clair's French translation by Le Quartanier, in 2023, as well as in Swedish, by OEI. Her poetry collection
Boat, a long poem extended and republished once each decade since 2003, when it began as a chapbook called ''Rousseau's Boat (''Nomados Press), was shortlisted for the 2023
Pat Lowther Award. ==Selected bibliography==