Alison Hughes has published sixteen books for children, some of which have been translated into Dutch, Korean, Turkish and French. In the US, her books have been a Junior Library Guild selection, and listed as best books of the year with both the Bank Street College of Education and Resource Links. She has also had an Honorable Mention and a Young Adult Notable Book citation with the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award (SONWA).

In Canada, she won the national Writers' Union Writing for Children Award and has been a finalist for Canada's Governor-General's Literary Awards, the Alberta Literary Awards, and nine times for provincial children's choice awards, including Ontario's Silver Birch. Her short fiction has been short- and long-listed for the Writers' Union Short Fiction Competition and the CBC Literary Awards. She currently works as a casual Writing Advisor/Editor for the University of Alberta's Academic Success Centre, gives workshops and presentations at schools, libraries, young author conferences and festivals across the country, and volunteers with child welfare and literacy organizations. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta.