Official Bio

A.G. Allen is a teacher and storyteller. Wordsmithing has been her life, first in corporate communications as a writer and managing editor, then as a Language Arts Teacher with a specialty in teaching academic writing. Writing fiction was a hobby until she decided to level up by getting a master's in creative writing. Her experience and interests converged to create There Are Dinosaurs in the Library!

 

She holds a bachelor’s in communications, a master’s in teaching, and a master’s in creative writing.

 

My Story

I've been a creative writer my whole life. In my twenties, I took an interest in screenplay writing and wrote several. No traction there, though I did do some formatting work for Tyler Perry on his first two movies – “Diary of A Mad Black Woman” and “Meet the Browns.”

 

Eventually, I tried my hand at fiction. I self-published a chic lit novel after it was rejected by a New York publisher. A few years went by with me starting but not finishing a lot of short stories. Finally, I sought more formal training and earned a master's in creative writing. Finishing the program gave me the confidence to try my hand at publishing my own works.

 

Instead of finishing the novel I'd started as part of my final degree assignment, I couldn't stop thinking about the dream I'd had a few years back. I and a bunch of kids were in a library and when the teacher opened a book on dinosaurs, the prehistoric creatures came to life. The experience was fun and pandemonium all in one! When I woke up, I began to write There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! Mrs. Barker and Alyssa sprang to life and made telling the story easy. There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! is the first in a series of illustrated books that celebrate the joys and adventures to be found in reading. 

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When I'm not writing or teaching, I like to travel. So far, I've been to fourteen countries. I've loved every adventure, but my faves have been gazing at a beautiful illustration on a random concrete bench in Paris; avoiding Petros, the pelican, in the alleyways of Mykonos; throwing open the curtains to be awestruck yet again by the beautiful ocean view from my hotel room in Kota Kinabalu; and exploring Seoul, South Korea, with my daughter who can find the most interesting streets and eateries in any locale. These days I call Mallorca, Spain, home.