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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. 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 a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

. 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 research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

to become a Bachelor of Arts and subsequently a Master of Fine Arts. 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 research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

. as well as from her own writing workshop site. Acheson has three sons, with whom she lives in her home in the Lower Mainland 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 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 one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

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 Writers from Vancouver 1964 births Langara College people Canadian women children's writers University of British Columbia alumni University of British Columbia faculty Simon Fraser University faculty