| Alison remembers weaving stories in her head from an early age and writing as soon as she was able. She's always cherished the experience of losing herself in a book and was lucky to have the added stimulus of growing up in a theatre environment.
Many childhood hours were spent absorbing the music of actors' voices and playwrights' words - and there was no shortage of flamboyant characters to store in the mental notebook! Alison has worked as an actor herself and the theatre remains a place of enchantment for her.
After University (English and Drama at Aberystwyth) Alison co-founded a Performing Arts Centre in Sussex. Here she began performing and scriptwriting with a group that included the composer Neil Brand and fellow children's author Lynda Waterhouse. Alison co-wrote four musicals with Neil and in 1989 they won the Vivian Ellis Prize with House of Dreams. Lynda and Alison now belong to Islington Writers for Children.
Some favourite things: Arabian horses, mountains, Tiger Moths, Georgian architecture, cats - and Peter, with whom she has journeyed thousands of miles in their vintage sports car.
Some ambitions: to design her own house, to write a screenplay, to see her novel Unique on screen.
Alison loves writing for young adults, saying, 'There's pretty well no subject you can't explore and today's readership is exacting, enquiring and astute.’ So her next project, provisionally titled Lifegame, is for this age group too. It's a thriller.
PUBLISHED WORKS
- Wildcat on Safari
Music and lyrics by Neil Brand
Josef Weinberger (1990)
A children's musical.
- The Lost Kitten
Illustrated by Joanne Moss
Magi Publications (1998)
A picture book for 3-7 year-olds.
- Unique
OUP (2004)
A rite-of-passage novel with a topical twist, for young adults.
Some critical reactions to Unique:
'a moving and absorbing novel'
Jan Mark, The Guardian
'a terrific book - exciting, heartening, intelligent, and all too topical' - Peter Hollindale, Books for Keeps
'addresses complex ethical and scientific issues with gravitas and compassion' - Booktrusted News
'a thrilling plot which keeps throwing surprises at you. Not the kind of thing I normally read but I thoroughly enjoyed it' - Andrew Nicholson, 14, Hermitage School, County Durham
Unique was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Fiction Prize, The North East Book Award, The Angus Book Award, The South Lanarkshire Book Award and the Branford Boase Award and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. In November 2005 it won the Stockport Schools' Book Award.
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