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 that time she completed the research that resulted in her book The Weather (2001), which has since been translated to French, Polish and Swedish.
Her many essays on the contemporary visual arts, published in gallery and museum catalogues since the mid-1990s, are collected in her 2003 book Occasional Works and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture.
[4] 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.