Iris Constance Allan was born in 1910 in Stratford, Ontario, the youngest daughter of Robert and Mabel (MacDonald) Sommerville, and sister to Winnipeg, Manitoba author Nan Shipley. She was primarily raised in Transcona, Manitoba, and later moved to Edmonton, Alberta. She married Robert Fredrick Allan. She wrote a column in the <em>Edmonton Journal</em> entitled "The Third Column," and later wrote extensively about western Canadian history, which she primarily aimed at school-aged children. Her works include <em>Boy in Buckskins: The Early Life of John McDougall</em> (1959), <em>John Rowand, fur trader: A Story of the Old Northwest</em> (1963),<em> Wop May: bush pilot</em> (1966), <em>Young Fur Trader</em> (1966, for the Edmonton Public School Board), <em>White Sioux: Major Walsh of the Mounted Police</em> (1969), and <em>Mother and her Family</em> (1977). In 1979, Iris Allan received an Alberta Achievement Award for Literature.