Submitting.
Born Gladys Cleet in Jesmond, South Shields, of Scots-Irish descent, she grew up in Newcastle. She loved to write as a child, penning short plays for classmates to perform, sending her poems to BBC Children’s Hour, and writing her first novel as a teenager. Her pen name (and preferred name) Alanna was derived from her mother’s maiden name, Allan.
After studying at a local commercial college, she got a job as a secretary at Newcastle University where she met her future husband Alistair Knight, a scientist, on a blind date to the theatre. They married in 1951 and were together for 57 years, until Alistair’s death in 2008.