Born in New York City on September 11, 1940, Sue Ann Alderson attended University of California (Berkeley) and moved to Vancouver in 1967 to teach at SFU, then taught at Capilano College. In 1980, she was the initiator and sole instructor for UBC's Writing for Children program where she was influential in encouraging Shirley Sterling to write her award-winning first book, My Name is Seepeetza (1992). Other students have also credited her as a mentor. She lives in the Dunbar area of Vancouver where she has become increasingly active as an abstract painter.

She is most widely-known for her successful Bonnie McSmithers series of kids' books. Her Ida and the Wool Smugglers is about sheep-rustling on Saltspring Island. The sequel, A Ride for Martha, is illustrated by Ann Blades and depicts a multicultural Saltspring Island at the turn of the century. Her poetry for adults has appeared in The Stinging Fly, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, West Coast Review and New West Writing.

Alderson's book about the Camosun Bog, The Eco-Diary of Kiran Singer (Tradewind) has been awarded an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (ASPCA) to Animals Henry Bergh Children's Book Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented at the American Library Association's annual conference in Anaheim, California in June, 2008). Each year the ASPCA recognizes books that feature an exemplary handling of subject matter pertaining to animals and the environment.