Alison Evans is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n novelist and writer. They are a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

person who identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, and their work often features queer and transgender characters. Evans grew up in the town of

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...

among the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...

, a setting which went on to heavily influence their work. Their first two novellas on Less Than Three Press were 2015's ''Long Macchiatos and Monsters'' and 2016's ''We Go Forward''. Since 2017, they have published three

young adult novels Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

with Echo Publishing: '' Ida'', '' Highway Bodies'' and ''

Euphoria Kids ''Euphoria Kids'' is a 2020 young adult fantasy novel by Alison Evans. It tells the coming of age story of three transgender young people named Iris, Babs and "the boy". The story contains elements of magical realism, including the presence of ...

''. They won the

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...

in the People's Choice category for ''Ida'' in 2018. Evans has contributed short stories to various anthologies - including ''Kindred'', ''Hometown Haunts'' and ''Everything Under the Moon'' - and works as both an author and editor of

zines A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

, including ''#EnbyLife'' with

Rae White Rae White is a Brisbane-based poet and writer. White is non-binary and the founding editor of the online periodical ''#EnbyLife: Journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives''. White's 2017 poetry collection ''Milk Teeth'' won the Thomas ...

. They co-edited the 2024

Fremantle Press Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing Western Australian writers and writi ...

anthology ''Avast! Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors'' with Michael Earp, while also contributing the short story "CHANGELINGS". They have also written non-fiction articles for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, '' Overland'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

''. In 2024, Evans was one of several authors at the centre of the ongoing

State Library Victoria Teen Writing Bootcamp controversy Six writers - Alison Evans (author), Alison Evans, Amie Kaufman, Jinghua Qian, Ariel Slamet Ries, Morgan Rose and Omar Sakr - were scheduled to appear at a series of online Teen Writing Bootcamp events for young people run by the State Library V ...

in which a scheduled workshop for children was cancelled by the Library ostensibly due to the need for a "child and cultural safety review". Various Library staff made claims published in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' and ''The Guardian'' that Evans and the other writers' support of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

was the actual reason and that the library had engaged in

political censorship Political censorship exists when a government attempts to conceal, misinformation, fake, distort, or disinformation, falsify information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news that the public might receive through ...

. These claims were later supported by the release of internal emails from the library.

Bibliography

Novels

*'' Ida'' (2017) *'' Highway Bodies'' (2019) *''

'' (2020)

Novellas

*''Long Macchiatos and Monsters'' (2015) *''We Go Forward'' (2016)

Short stories

*"Stormlines" (''Kindred'', 2019) *"Angel Eyes" (''Hometown Haunts'', 2021) *"Moonfall" (''Everything Under the Moon'', 2023) *"CHANGELINGS" (''Avast!: Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors'', 2024) *"It's probably fine" (''Overland'', 2024)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Alison Living people Writers from Melbourne Young adult novelists Australian bisexual writers Australian non-binary writers Australian transgender writers Australian LGBTQ novelists LGBTQ people from Victoria (state) Bisexual novelists Non-binary novelists Transgender novelists Transgender bisexual people Transgender non-binary people Non-binary bisexual people 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people Year of birth missing (living people)