[1][2] She studied languages at St Anne's College, Oxford, and has obtained some postgraduate qualifications since.
Watkinson translates from Dutch, Italian and German languages into English, ranging from children's picture books and graphic novels to science and history.
[3] She founded the Dutch chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
[4] Watkinson's publishers won the American Library Association Mildred L. Batchelder Award three times in four years from 2012 to 2015.
[5] In 2015 she won the British biennial Vondel Translation Prize for her translation of Tonke Dragt's De brief voor de koning.