Parkinson grew up in Galway and County Donegal, studied English Literature and German at Trinity College, Dublin, and later completed her PhD on the poetry of Dylan Thomas.
She also teaches creative writing at Marino Institute of Education,[3] and has held numerous Writers-in-Schools short-term residencies, with a particular emphasis on working with children with special needs.
[citation needed] On 10 May 2010, Parkinson was conferred by President of Ireland Mary McAleese as the first ever Laureate na nÓg, a position she would hold until 2012.
[4] In her capacity as laureate she expressed the wish that "every child in the country would have access to a [...] library where they could go and find the books that are going to open their minds".
[5] Parkinson has been shortlisted eleven times for the Irish Bisto Book of the Year award, which she won on one occasion, for Sisters... No Way!, in 1997.