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Alison Lohans

Author

76 Dolphin Bay
Regina, SK
S4S 4Z8
Phone: (306) 586-4238
Email:

Born: July 13, 1949. Reedley, California USA
Family: Partner: Stewart Raby; sons Chris Lohans (19) and John (adult). Pets: Tchai, an Australian blue heeler

Biography

I was born and raised in Reedley, California, and have been writing all my life. At the age of 9 I decided I was going to be a writer, began submitting stories (and learning all about rejection slips) at 10, and was first published at 12. Realizing early on that writing might not provide a reliable source of income, I completed my B.A. in Music Education (beginning at Whittier College, finishing at California State University at Los Angeles) in 1971, and soon afterwards immigrated to Canada with my first husband. We spent five years in British Columbia, where I completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Elementary Education at the University of Victoria in 1976. We moved to Regina in 1976, where I taught beginning band for three years before "retiring" to start a family and work more intensively on my writing. I have been teaching Writing for Children by correspondence since 1990 (first for University of Regina Extension and now for the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, and also have a number of private students). At the moment I am finishing up my M.Ed. in education, writing my thesis on children's home practice on a stringed instrument. In addition to writing, music continues to be an important part of my life. When my son Chris started taking cello in 1993, I fell in love with the instrument myself, and have been an adult cello student since 1996. In 1996 I wrote a musical score for young string players to accompany my first picture book Nathaniel's Violin, which had 20 or so public performances by Chris' small string group, the Earlybird Ensembles. Chris and I are both members of the University of Regina Chamber Orchestra. In my spare time I love to practise my cello, play recorder, read, and do jigsaw puzzles.

Published Works

The Raspberry Room, Orca, 2006
Tunings, B-) Print Editions, 2005, (poetry chapbook)
Waiting for the Sun, Red Deer Press, 2001
Skateboard Kids Roussan Publishers, 1999 (out of print)
No Place for Kids Roussan Publishers, 1999 (out of print)
Sundog Rescue Annick Press, 1999, illustrated by Vladyana Langer Krykorka (out of print)
The Lunchbox Mystery Scholastic Canada, 1999, re-issue of Mystery of the Lunchbox Criminal (Scholastic, 1990), illustrated by Janet Wilson
Getting Rid of Mr. Ribitus Hodgepog Books, 1998, illustrated by Barbara Hartmann (out of print)
Don't Think Twice Thistledown Press, 1997 (out of print)
Nathaniel's Violin Orca Book Publishers, 1996, illustrated by Marlene Watson (out of print)
Laws of Emotion Thistledown Press, 1993
Foghorn Passage Stoddart/Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1992/1997
The Secret Plan Scholastic Canada, 1995, re-issue of Germy Johnson's Secret Plan, Scholastic, 1992, illustrated by Janet Wilson (out of print)
Can You Promise Me Spring? Scholastic Canada, 1986/1991 (out of print)
Who Cares About Karen? Scholastic Canada, 1983/1994 (out of print)

Performances

20 public performances of the musical version of Nathaniel's Violin with the Earlybird Ensembles, 1996-1998

Awards

Getting Rid of Mr. Ribitus -- shortlisted for the 1999 Alberta Book Publishers Award, Best Children's Book
Don't Think Twice -- shortlisted for the 1998 CLA Young Adult Book Award
Don't Think Twice -- shortlisted for the 1997 Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award
Nathaniel's Violin -- shortlisted for the 1996 Saskatchewan Book Awards, Children's Literature Category
Mystery of the Lunchbox Criminal -- winner of the 1996 Young Readers' Choice Award, South Saskatchewan Reading Council/Saskatchewan Writers Guild
Foghorn Passage -- shortlisted for the 1995 Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award
Laws of Emotion -- shortlisted for the 1994 CLA Young Adult Book Award
Can You Promise Me Spring? -- winner of the 1994 Young Readers' Choice Award, South Saskatchewan Reading Council/Saskatchewan Writers Guild
Most of my books appear on the Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" list; Don't Think Twice and Foghorn Passage were starred selections I have won several awards for short fiction, and was awarded the 1996 Volunteer Leadership Award by the Saskatchewan Writers Guild

Other Memberships

The Writers' Union of Canada; Saskatchewan Writers Guild; SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators); Saskatchewan Children's Writers' Round Robin, and various other writing groups

Available For

Readings for grades K through adult, writing workshops for all ages, conference presentations for writers and educators, teaching, editing, juries I have given hundreds of school and library readings in western Canada, many writing workshops, and have taught at several young authors' conferences in Ottawa and Montreal.
In 1998 and 1999 I taught the week-long Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience in Regina. In addition to my correspondence teaching (above), I have regularly critiqued manuscripts for the Saskatchewan Arts Board script reading service, and have judged a number of competitions.