Allan Read

Allan Read is an Australian author and artist whose work is shaped by a lifelong interest in people, history, art and the stories that connect them.

With a background in fine arts, Allan spent many years working as an artist and running his own art studio, teaching art skills to people of all ages and hosting paint-and-sip events. His creative work has taken him from painting and illustration into fiction, where he enjoys exploring unusual ideas, characters and worlds.

Allan is the author of Whiskey One and The Zoo: White Queen. His novels explore very different worlds, but share an interest in people, identity, history and the choices that shape their lives.

His second novel, The Zoo: White Queen, takes readers into the world of Neopan, where history can be recreated and figures from the past can be brought back to life. Beneath the spectacle of the Zoo lies a deeper mystery about identity, power and the nature of the people who inhabit it.

His forthcoming novel, Harry of the Socks, moves into very different territory, exploring memory, relationships and the changing nature of a life as one man begins to lose his grip on the world around him.

Allan continues to write, paint and develop new creative projects.