So Far…

2022

• Boogie Woogie Bird is released!
• The SCBWI Queensland Sunshine Coast Lighthouse Residency dream finally came to fruition after several COVID-related delays in 2021. The best part wasn’t being the first kidlit author-in-residence in this magnificent space; it was sharing it with four talented children’s book creators. Many thanks to the Sunshine Coast Council and the Friends of the Caloundra Lighthouses for making this opportunity available.

2021

• Literary agent Lucy Irvine of Peters, Fraser & Dunlop Literary Agency (PFD) offers representation.
• The Remarkables wins the 2021 Times / Chicken House / IET 150 Prize
• The Remarkables is one of three titles on the 2021Times / Chicken House / IET 150 Prize SHORTLIST
• The Remarkables makes the long list in the 2021 Times / Chicken House / IET 150 Prize. My first INTERNATIONAL award!
• The Remarkables wins First Place in the YA category of the CYA Conference 2021 competition.
• Hosted SCBWI QLD’s Bibliotherapy Symposium – Kids, Helpers & Books that Heal, an online event that unpacked bibliotherapy and the children’s publishing niche devoted to creating books for kids’ helping professionals and social-emotional wellbeing.
• Signed a publishing agreement with Redback Publishing for my picture book manuscript Boogie Woogie Bird, illustrated by Sandra Severgnini
• Historical Novel Society Australasia Elizabeth Jane Corbett Mentorship Prize Winner – The Remarkables, Mentor: Dr Wendy Dunn
• A new resource book, Babysitting Business Secrets by Matt Taylor, is released (I’m a contributing editor)

2020

• Historical Novel Society Australasia Elizabeth Corbett Mentorship Prize Shortlist – The Remarkables
• Kidsit.com Contributor and Editor
• Revamping Saving Arcadia
• New ARA (State Director) of SCBWI Queensland, a division of SCBWI Australia East/ New Zealand
• Presenter at SCBWI QLD Autumn Quarterly Meeting

2019

• SCBWI – QLD ARA (State Director)
• SCBWI – QLD State Conference Executive Committee
• Presenter at SCBWL QLD State Conference
• Awarded arts grant – Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) from Arts Queensland and the Sunshine Coast Council for a mentorship with a top Australian kidlit author – Dee White
• Artist-in-Residence with Kellie Byrnes at the Crows Nest (photo below), Sunshine Coast Council Creative Spaces Initiative
• CBCA NSW Aspiring Writers’ Mentorship Program Longlist – Saving Arcadia
• CBCA Book Week Guest Author & Workshop Presenter – Saving Arcadia

2018

• SCBWI Queensland Sunshine Coast Sub-branch Coordinator
• Launches Sunshine Coast Writers’ Roundtable, building creative community
• CBCA Book Week Guest Author & Workshop Presenter
• Launches full-time writing career

2017

• Winner Australian Society of Authors Mentorship – Emerging Writers’ and Illustrators’ Mentorship Program supported by Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, Children’s category. Mentor: Catherine Bateson
• CBCA Book Week Guest Author & Workshop Presenter

2016

• Winifred Weatherby Saves the Century wins second place in Category 4b (MG) of the CYA Conference Competition.
• CBCA Book Week Guest Author & Workshop Presenter
• The Quest for the Scales of Time wins the runner-up position in WriteAway Spain.
• Ever learning, always revising, Ali rewrites last year’s manuscript, making it a richer Gaslamp Fantasy, best described as a Peter Pan/Indiana Jones mashup. Presenting: The Temple of Lost Time.
• A sequel, Flight of the Thunder Dragon, is well underway.
• Ali outlines a middle grade historical caper with STEM and a YA Rom Com Caper Underdawgs .
• Ali takes up a part-time employment opportunity in Marketing & Communications.

2015

• Screening Screen Use: Preparing Students for Healthy Technology Use published in Screen Education magazine [Issue 77, Autumn 2015]
• Toby Fitzroy & The Quest for the Scales of Time, a middle grade novel, is born and launched into the literary world, receiving  requests for full manuscripts from five Australian publishers and one American agent. Unfortunately, no one claims it.

2014

• The Hunting of the Muse ranks 6th in the CYA Conference Competition (Middle Grade Category) and generates full MS requests from an Aussie publishing professional and an agent
• Ali wins a placement with AssistantPress.me as a blogging superhero (aka a Content Press Assistant)
• Ali completes Set for Life Senior Secondary and Middle School Life Skills curriculum package

2013

• Summer of the Silk Dragon is shopped to several major US publishers but doesn’t find a home.
• One Shandy Too Many short-listed and published on Australian Literature Review
• Foul Play at Winterfest submitted to a well-known mystery series for ghostwriting op
• 1:1 Learning with iPads: One Middle School’s Experience is published in Adolescent Success journal [Volume 13, Number 2]

2012

• Scorned won the Gold Coast Writers’ Festival Conference Contest
• Empty Nest got an honourable mention at the Gold Coast Writers’ Fest
• A New York literary agency signed Ali for Summer of the Silk Dragon. 

2011

• Saving Aggie Blue placed second in CYA Conference Contest (YA Category)
• A Thousand Miles to Meet wasn’t short-listed in the CYA Contest, but it came in fifth place! (YA Category)
• Alison completes e-Quipped Digital Citizenship & Cybersafety curriculum package

2010

• Photophobia placed third in CYA Conference (YA category)

Pre-2010

• Ali’s Writing Apprenticeship

And while all of the above is going on, Ali is slowly building a freelance content creation business and blogging up a storm here and elsewhere on the web.

Ali is a proud member of:

• SCBWI Australia East\New Zealand
• Australian Society of Authors
• The Historical Novel Society
• Book Links

Ali Applauds

• The Pyjama Foundation – Literacy Mentoring for Kids in Care

Photo by Olia Gozha on Unsplash