Alan Roberts was born in Bondi while his parents were there on vacation. He then spent most of his formative years in Sydney. He attended Fort Street High School, Petersham, where he developed an interest in literature and became a close friend of the Australian writer Ken Cook (q.v.).
Later, when he was living in South Australia, the electoral roll for 1980 recorded Roberts as living at Hawthorndene working as a field officer. He had lived there since 1967 according to his autobiography and continued to live in the Hawthorndene/Blackwood area of the Adelaide Hills, writing to entertain his friends.
