Alan Pilkington was born in a small Australian country town. The son of a doctor and a school teacher, Pilkington acquired a love of the outdoors, and of books and literature at an early age. A graduate of Scotch College in Melbourne and of Melbourne University, Pilkington enjoyed a successful career in global advertising, including a stint as head of Chicago's renowned DDB Worldwide agency. He is an active conservationist, and for several years served as board chair of Defenders of Wildlife, a leading Washington, DC based conservation organization. He now pursues a life of writing fiction and poetry, consulting and enjoying the outdoors.

A proud father of two daughters, both designers and artists in New York, Pilkington now makes his home on a mountainside in Colorado with his two bird dogs, Brittanys named Daisy and Bess.