Alan enjoys writing poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and stage plays. His first published book was the children's book, Maggie's Chopsticks, published by Kids Can Press. In March of 2020, his second children's book, David Jumps In was released, also from Kids Can Press.

He is a freelance writer and has written pieces for RicePaper magazine, The Georgia Straight, Vancouver magazine, and numerous other publications. His poetry has been published in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine and RicePaper.

Currently, he is finishing off his MLIS degree and aims to become a writer-librarian in the near future. He is presently working on developing a second children's book with Kids Can Press, tentatively titled Chinese Skip.