Alison Lester was born on November 17, 1952, at Foster in Victotia Australia. She grew up in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia on a farm overlooking the sea where she could ride her horse everyday. Alison was educated at a boarding school in Berwick, Victoria. She achieved a higher diploma in teaching at The Melbourne Teacher's College, where she trained as a secondary arts and crafts teacher. She was an art teacher and an illustrator for other people's titles before she began writing and illustrating her own. Alison taught for a while before starting a family and writing. Her first book was published in 1986. She has written and illustrated over 25 picture books. Her first novel was The… Quicksand Pony won an Australian Young Readers Book Award and a Children's Book Council of America (CBCA) Book of the Year Award. Her picture books Clive Eats Alligators and the Journey Home each won a CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award.