Allan Ahlberg, the beloved children’s author who has passed away at 87, mastered nearly every genre—from fiction and poetry to picture books, fairy tales, and comic humor. He wrote over 150 books, including classics like Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman.
Ahlberg spent a decade as a primary school teacher before his wife, Janet, an artist, asked him to write a story for her to illustrate. He later described that moment as feeling like a wind-up toy—she had “turned the key.” Their first collaboration, Here Are the Brick Street Boys (1975), launched them into becoming one of children’s literature’s most successful author-illustrator duos.
The couple shared an extraordinary closeness, both personally and professionally. Their success came from the perfect harmony between words and pictures, as well as their ability to see the world through a child’s eyes. Their warm, gently quirky humor shone through in their work. When their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1980, her growth inspired many of their books, most notably The Baby’s Catalogue (1982)—a simple yet brilliant concept based on babies’ fascination with spotting other babies in magazines.
Each Peach Pear Plum (1978) was a near-perfect picture book, winning their first Kate Greenaway Medal with its playful “I spy” rhymes. Peepo! (1981) took the familiar peek-a-boo game further by adding holes to peek through and setting the story during World War II, filled with rich period details. Ahlberg later said the book drew from his own childhood memories of growing up poor in the Black Country—”I am the Peepo baby,” he once remarked. He revisited those memories in The Bucket: Memories of an Inattentive Childhood (2013).
The Jolly Postman (1986), followed by two sequels, became their masterpiece and biggest commercial success, selling over 6 million copies worldwide. The book’s originality—filled with letters, postcards, and tiny books—revolutionized picture books, engaging children in a way never seen before. It earned them a second Kate Greenaway Medal and the Emil/Kurt Maschler Award.
Several of their works were adapted for TV, including Happy Families (BBC, 1989-90), Woof! (Central, 1989-97), and Funnybones (S4C/BBC, 1992).
Ahlberg’s years in the classroom gave him deep insight into children, which he channeled into his writing—especially his poetry. Please Mrs Butler (1983) remains his most popular collection, though he wrote many other outstanding works.Allan Ahlberg’s work was also illustrated by Fritz Wegner and Charlotte Voake. His Collected Poems was published in 2008.
Born in Croydon, south London, Allan was raised by a single mother before being adopted by a working-class family—his adoptive parents worked as an office cleaner and a laborer. He grew up in Oldbury, near Birmingham, and later said he just “scraped” into the local grammar school. A lifelong West Bromwich Albion fan, he initially dreamed of a football career. He met Janet Hall at teacher training college in Sunderland, and they married in 1969.
Though he spent most of his life elsewhere—including many years near Bath—Ahlberg always enjoyed slipping into Black Country dialect. He took great pride in a 2011 exhibition of their work at the Public arts center in Sandwell, near Oldbury, which featured children’s reactions to their books. A 2006 exhibition at Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle, titled What’s in the Book?, humorously described their creative process: “I do the words (takes me about a day), and Janet does the pictures (takes her about six months). Then we send them to the publisher, who sends us some money. I get half for my day’s work, and Janet gets half for her six months’ work—the basis of a happy marriage…”
Janet’s death from cancer in 1994 left Allan heartbroken, but he found solace in compiling Janet’s Last Book (1997), a private tribute featuring his favorite selections of her work.
Later books like The Adventures of Bert (2001) and A Bit More Bert (2002) were illustrated by Raymond Briggs, while The Runaway Dinner (2006) and The Pencil (2013) featured artwork by Bruce Ingman. His daughter Jessica became a successful author herself, and the two collaborated on several books, including The Goldilocks Variations (2012).
In 2014, Ahlberg was due to receive the Booktrust lifetime achievement award but declined because of its Amazon sponsorship—a company whose tax practices he opposed. When fellow authors Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon heard, they created the “Shoestring Award,” a collection of tributes from writers and illustrators celebrating the Ahlbergs’ legacy.
Ahlberg later married Vanessa Clarke, his editor at Walker Books, and became stepfather to her two daughters, Saskia and Johanna. He is survived by them and his daughter Jessica.
Allan Ahlberg, children’s author, born 5 June 1938; died 29 July 2025.
Morag Styles died in January 2025.
