Ali was a local newspaper reporter and columnist before joining BBC local radio as a producer and presenter, and then chucked in the safe job to be dangerously freelance and write scripts and manuscripts. Her first venture was as a comedy columnist on BBC Radio's top-rated Woman's Hour and Home Truths programmes. She has since written 27 books for OUP. In 2010 she won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award for Frozen in Time. Ali lives with her husband and two sons in Southampton.