Allison Tait is the name shared by at least two notable individuals: an Australian children's author and freelance writer, and an American legal scholar. The following entries describe each.
Allison Tait (Australian author)
Allison Tait, who also writes under the pen name A. L. Tait, is an Australian freelance writer and children's author. She writes children's literature and non-fiction and is a blogger. She is best known for her middle-grade series The Mapmaker Chronicles. Her work has been published in various magazines, newspapers, and online outlets over more than 20 years, covering topics including finance, furniture, parenting, philosophy, social trends, and other subjects.
Tait has held staff roles at publications including Vogue Australia, CLEO, and House & Garden. She currently co-hosts the Your Kid's Next Read podcast with Megan Daley and previously co-hosted the Australian Writers' Centre podcast So You Want To Be A Writer with Valerie Khoo. She also works as an online tutor for writing-based courses and engages in public speaking and workshops for both adults and children.
Her notable works include the Mapmaker Chronicles series (beginning with Race to the End of the World, 2014), the Ateban Cipher series (The Book of Secrets, 2017; The Book of Answers, 2018), and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (The Fire Star, 2020; The Wolf's Howl, 2021). Her standalone works include Credit Card Stressbusters (2009), Career Mums (2012, co-written with Kate Sykes), So You Want To Be A Writer (2019, co-written with Valerie Khoo), and the middle-grade novels The First Summer of Callie McGee (2023), Willow Bright's Secret Plot (2025), and Danger Road (2025). Her novels have been shortlisted and longlisted for various awards, including the Readings Children's Book Prize, the Aurealis Award, and the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. The Mapmaker Chronicles were optioned for film in 2015.
Allison Anna Tait (American legal scholar)
Allison Anna Tait is the Dennis I. Belcher Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, where she teaches trusts and estates, family law, critical theory, and feminist legal theory. She joined the University of Richmond Law faculty in 2015. Before that, she was an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School and clerked for a federal judge. Her scholarly work addresses topics related to family law, wealth transfer, and feminist legal theory. She is the author of a forthcoming book, The House that Family Money Built, scheduled for publication by the University of California Press.
Distinguishing the two
The Australian author and the American law professor are distinct individuals who share the same name. The author publishes under the pen name A. L. Tait and is based in New South Wales, Australia, while the law professor publishes under the name Allison Anna Tait and is based in Richmond, Virginia, United States.
