Alison Acheson is a Canadian writer of fiction for adults and children.

Biography

Acheson was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. In her youth she studied through both public school and

correspondence school Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

. She left school just before her sixteenth birthday, and worked as a

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...

, before enrolling in Langara College and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

to become a Bachelor of Arts and subsequently a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

. Acheson has taught writing for children and pedagogy in the MFA program at UBC, and continues to teach extension courses in creative writing at the University of British Columbia and

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. as well as from her own writing workshop site. Acheson has three sons, with whom she lives in her home in the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

of British Columbia. Her husband, Marty Hatlelid, died April 10, 2016. Acheson's memoir, ''Dance Me to the End: Ten Months and Ten Days with ALS'', describes his diagnosis of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

and the final months of his life, and was a bestseller in British Columbia.

Books and publications

In 1996, Coteau Books published Acheson's first book, ''Thunder Ice''. Set in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

in the year 1870, it concerns the friendship of two cousins whose respective home towns are at conflict over the pending railway contract. ''Thunder Ice'' was a finalist for the Manitoba Young Readers award, the Red Cedar award, and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young Readers. Subsequent publications include: *''The Half-Pipe Kidd'', 1997, Coteau Books, for grades 5–9 *''Learning to Live Indoors'', 1998, Porcupine's Quill, short stories for adults *''Mud Girl'', 2006, Coteau Books, for teens. A finalist for the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book of the Year distinction in 2006 *''Grandpa’s Music: A Story About Alzheimer’s'', 2009, Albert Whitman & Co., an IBBY List for Children *''Molly's Cue'', 2010, Coteau Books, for grade 5–9 *''The Cul-De-Sac Kids'', 2012 Tradewind Books, grades 2–3 *''Dance Me to the End'', 2019, Brindle & Glass, adult memoir

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acheson, Alison Canadian children's writers Living people Novelists from Vancouver 1964 births Langara College people Canadian women children's writers University of British Columbia alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Academic staff of Simon Fraser University