Alysen Bayles

Alysen grew up on a farm in Wisconsin run by her late mother who was an excellent dressage rider. Although Alysen was not skilled in dressage, she rode and showed horses and cared for goats, cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and ducks. One goat became the unfortunate recipient of frostbite, ultimately losing part of her back legs. Undeterred, the goat became known as "Handstand,” happily making her way around the farm before spending nights in the breezeway by the farmhouse.

Alysen completed high school at Hawker College in Canberra, Australia. She attended Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. Professor Jo Beth Van Arkel transformed her writing into a passion, but it would be many years before her first book was published.

Alysen obtained her law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law where she was a member of the Journal of Dispute Resolution. Following law school, she worked in-house and met her husband, Dan. They eventually relocated to Wisconsin before settling in Missouri and raising two children.

After spending more than two decades as a litigator, Alysen’s legal career transitioned to Kansas City in 2020 to focus on dispute resolution. Her first children's book, Winston, was published in 2020 under pen name Alysen Bayles. Working as a lawyer under her real name, Laurel Stevenson, she wanted to distinguish her author work and honor her late grandfather who was a mechanical engineer, writer, and an amazing human. In late 2023, she founded Bayles and Bruce as a tribute to her late grandparents and her beloved granddog Bruce, and started a weekly blog and newsletter, Winston Weekly.

Winston is loosely based on a dumped dog who was abused and became part of Alysen’s family for more than 15 years. Her second children's book, Silly Sam from Galapagos Land, was released in 2022. Cambridge and Clyde, an easy reader for ages six to nine, was released in 2023. Cambridge and Clyde is fiction, but includes a bit of history about George Washington Carver, and the Joplin, MO E-5 tornado.

Alysen is working on additional children's books, novels, and a poetry and picture book.