Background
Alison Lohans was born on July 13, 1949, in Reedley, California, United States. She was the eldest of five children.
5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90032, United States
California State University at Los Angeles where Alison Lohans received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971.
3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
The emblem of the University of Victoria where Alison Lohans obtained her diploma in elementary education in 1976.
3737 Wascana Pkwy, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
The University of Regina where Alison Lohans received her Master of Education degree in 2002.
Alison Lohans playing in the University of Regina Orchestra.
Alison Lohans after a Queen City Brass Band Christmas concert.
Alison Lohans playing with a group of friends at Regina’s Marian Centre.
Alison Lohans with her trumpet.
Alison Lohans (the second from right, first row) with other members of Campion Schola chorus.
(An only child living on a farm, lonely Nathaniel helps hi...)
An only child living on a farm, lonely Nathaniel helps his parents with the chores, until one day a mysterious old lady gives him a violin, and after he learns to play, his music makes everyone on the farm feel very happy
https://www.amazon.com/Nathaniels-Violin-Alison-Lohans/dp/1551430649/?tag=2022091-20
1996
(Sisters Jennifer and Sarah were once part of a happy, sta...)
Sisters Jennifer and Sarah were once part of a happy, stable family, but their idyllic life comes to an abrupt halt with the death of their mother
https://www.amazon.com/No-Place-Kids-Wandering-Fox-ebook/dp/B00LT2LMXW/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Forced to confront her fears when the car breaks down and...)
Forced to confront her fears when the car breaks down and her Grandma hurts her ankle, Melissa recalls a game that she and her Grandma love to play to banish the terrifying "shadow-wolves" from her imagination
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550375709/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Escaping her home routine for a few hours, 16-year-old Ka...)
Escaping her home routine for a few hours, 16-year-old Katie grabs her bike and leaves behind her cranky baby, hyperactive brother, and struggling single mom
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006H0Q2CM/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Being a single mom at 15 is tough! Biking along the creek...)
Being a single mom at 15 is tough! Biking along the creek, all Katie wants is a few moments peace away from her teething baby, her bratty brother, her nagging mom, and her callous classmates
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D4SB451/?tag=2022091-20
2018
Alison Lohans was born on July 13, 1949, in Reedley, California, United States. She was the eldest of five children.
Alison Lohans spent her childhood in a rural home with no TV, meant she spent a lot of time on her own. As a result, she invented imaginative games and other ways of passing the time. According to her mother, at age four, Alison “used to spend hours telling stories to her two-year-old sister, pretending to read from little music encyclopedias.” Lohans' trouble sleeping also played a role in the development of her storytelling habit.
At the age of one, Lohans revealed the interest in music which has remained strong throughout her life. Two years after her parents noted she played someone’s piano by ear at age three, they bought the instrument and enrolled their daughter in piano lessons.
While in elementary school, Alison learned to play the trumpet, and then the French horn at the end of her studies. She received an alto recorder from her parents on her fifteenth birthday. She learned to play the instrument on her own.
When she was a child, Lohans' favorite books were ‘The Silver Pencil’ by Alice Dalgleish and the novels in Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series. She also wrote her own stories, submitting them to children’s magazines, and learning all about rejection. Finally, a story she wrote when she was thirteen was accepted by Wee Wisdom.
Though this was encouraging, the stack of rejection slips sent a clear message to Lohans: making a living as a writer would be hard work. As a result, she decided to pursue her other passion, music and made this the focus of her studies at California State University at Los Angeles where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1971. While there, she spent a lot of time in various music groups and in creative writing classes.
Besides her decision to study music formally, Lohans continued writing and reading throughout her teen years, forming strong opinions about the materials that were available for young people at the time.
After graduating from California State University at Los Angeles, Alison Lohans pursued her studies at the University of Victoria focusing on teaching music. In 1976, she received a post-graduate diploma in elementary education. Years later, in 2002, Lohans earned her Master of Education degree from the University of Regina, Canada.
Alison Lohans began her career in 1971 when she moved from the United States to Canada with her first husband. Five years later, Lohans settled down in Regina, Saskatchewan. After relocation, she continued working on the manuscript for a young-adult novel that she had started in high school. It went through many drafts and revisions – and just about as many rejections – until she decided to abandon it and start fresh on a new project.
This new project eventually became 'Who Cares about Karen?’. Although she finished the first draft of the manuscript in 1977, Lohans wasn’t satisfied with it and decided to set it aside and work on other ideas. After more rewriting, and several rejections, the author sent the manuscript to Scholastic Canada, which published the book in 1983. The struggles of her first husband provided her with the insight that inspired ‘Can You Promise Me Spring?’, the 1986 story of the older sister of a twelve-year-old who discovers he has Hodgkin’s disease and must undergo chemotherapy treatments.
After her husband died in 1985, Lohans developed a terrible case of writer’s block. Her elder son, John, who was nearly nine at the time, provided the spark she needed to break the block that had brought her lifelong writing habit to a standstill. She decided to write something for him. John read it to his classmates, who clamored to find out what was going to happen next. Lohans wrote another work for her young audience, then another, and another. Within six weeks, she had written the entire first draft of the book that became ‘Mystery of the Lunchbox Criminal’, published in 1990. Some of the characters introduced in ‘Lunchbox Criminal’ show up again in ‘Germy Johnson's Secret Plan’, which appeared in a couple of years, as another volume titled ‘Foghorn Passage’ in which the author revisited the theme of illness and disability.
‘Laws of Emotion’, Lohans’ sixth book published in 1993, was a collection of short stories that ranged from the serious to the lighthearted. ‘Nathaniel’s Violin’, the author's first picture book, saw the publication three years later. When it was issued, Lohans drew on her musical background to write a score to accompany the story. This has been performed many times by her son’s string ensemble.
For a 1997 book, Alison Lohans returned to the manuscript she had started in high school and later abandoned. With years of experience as a writer under her belt, she was able to give it the kind of overhaul it needed, and ‘Don’t Think Twice’ was published, thirty years after she started writing it.
The subsequent years, Lohans has published about fifteen more volumes for young children. Besides, she has authored many book reviews that have appeared in a variety of publications, including ‘Notes across the Aisle’, ‘Crackers magazine’, and ‘Canadian Author and Bookman’.
In addition to the writing activity, Lohans has tried her hand as an educator, both in writing and music. Upon her moving to Regina, she joined the staff of the local University and began to teach Creative Writing for Children correspondence courses. From 2002 to 2003, she served as a writer in Residence at Regina Public Library. Nowadays, she is a mentor of Regina Philharmonic Chorus and Saskatchewan Orchestral Association. She holds multiple readings and workshops, often serves as a mentor for other writers and teaches occasionally.
The release of Lohans’ new book is planned for June 2019.
(An only child living on a farm, lonely Nathaniel helps hi...)
1996(Forced to confront her fears when the car breaks down and...)
1999(Being a single mom at 15 is tough! Biking along the creek...)
2018(Escaping her home routine for a few hours, 16-year-old Ka...)
2010(Sisters Jennifer and Sarah were once part of a happy, sta...)
1999(Matt Bruckner, a brilliant violinist, is left paraplegic ...)
1992(In behind the raspberry bushes is a special place, a plac...)
2006(Every time Alyssa looks at an old family portrait, she la...)
2011(The book tells the story of a girl named Jan Carlson)
1997Alison Lohans takes inspiration for many of her stories in real life analyzing the questions that fascinate her or the situations she never worked out quite the way she wanted them to.
Quotations:
"What I like to explore when I write a book is how characters relate to one another, how they cause trouble for each other. If I don’t understand my characters well enough, my story usually gets stuck."
"Believe in yourself. Read a lot. Write daily, if you possibly can. Write whatever you want, but don’t forget to draw on the wealth of knowledge you have inside yourself, that voice which is uniquely ‘you,’ and only you can offer to the world."
Alison Lohans is passionate about music which occupies a prominent place both in her life and her books.
Although Lohans plays cello in the University of Regina orchestra and performs in other ensembles and choirs, such as the Queen City Brass Band, the Poolside Brass quartet, she continues to develop her musical skills taking cello lessons. Besides, she plays and teaches alto recorder, plays piano, and sings in a community chorus at the University of Regina, Campion Schola.
Alison Lohans was married to Michael Pirot whom she met at Whittier College. Since 1971, he had been battling cancer and died in 1985.
Later, Lohans met Stewart Raby who is her current partner.
Lohans has two sons named John and Christopher. They inherited their mother’s passion for music. Christopher is also a cellist, and he often plays duets with his mother.