Al Pope was born in Scotland and moved to Canada at the age of 12. After spending his teenage years in southern Ontario, he moved to the Yukon when he was 21. There Al developed an obsession with dog sledding, winning two provincial championships with a team he raised himself, and built a cabin home for his wife and three children 30 miles south of Whitehorse.

Since he gave up mushing, Al's stories have appeared in several Canadian literary journals, and he has written for the Yukon News and CBC Radio. His radio play Out of the Blue was adapted into a dance production with the help of choreographer Gail Lotenberg.