Alison's writing encompasses academic publications and articles, educational books for a general audience, journalism (she is visual arts critic for The Arts Desk and The Independent) and children's books. She gained her M.Phil at the Warburg Institute, London in Renaissance Studies, having graduated with a first-class degree in Art History. Her most recent books are Italian Renaissance Courts: Art, Pleasure and Power (Laurence King, 2016) and Michelangelo: The Taddei Tondo (Royal Academy Publications, 2017). 

A passion for cultural education in all its forms is a common theme across all her professional and personal interests. She was Editor of Art Quarterly magazine, Issue Editor of The Great Artists and has also written widely on music (Discovering Opera and The Great Composers). 

In addition, Alison manages the cult literary and TV properties Bod and Fingerbobs on behalf of the Michael Cole Estate, which were created by her parents - Michael and Joanne Cole - and popularised by the BBC. She has written two new Bod books, inspired by her parents' approach, and has recently worked with Egmont Books on the reissue of the original Bod books.