Much-loved children’s author, Allan Ahlberg, has died at the age of 87, his publisher Penguin Random House has confirmed in a statement. During his nearly five-decade long career, Allan wrote over 150 books including celebrated titles such as The Jolly Postman, Funny Bones, Peepo!, and Each Peach Pear Plum. Many of his best-known titles saw him collaborate with his wife Janet Ahlberg, an award-winning illustrator, prior to her death in 1994. The duo’s books have sold millions of copies globally.
Allan was born in 1938 in Croydon but was adopted and brought up in Oldbury in the West Midlands. In a 2006 interview with The Guardian, he described his upbringing as part of “a very poor working-class family”, and said he modelled the baby in Peepo! on himself.
He added: “My parents loved me and they did me a huge service saving me from growing up in a children’s home, but there were a fair few clips round the ear, no books and not much conversation.”
Allan’s first steps into the writing world were inspired by his then-wife Janet, who had already started illustrating, and asked her husband to write her a story. In 1975, the Ahlbergs published their first book together, Here are the Brick Street Boys. This was quickly followed by The Old Joke Book, Burglar Bill and Each Peach Pear Plum, the latter of which Janet was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustrators in 1978. During their joint career, they created a fantastic 37 books and parented one child, Jessica.
In a tribute from fellow children’s author Michael Rosen, Ahlberg is described as a “pioneer of great children’s literature, both in picture books and poetry.
“You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so do I.”
Francesca Dow, head of children’s literature at Penguin Random House, said: “Allan was one of the most extraordinary authors I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with.
“His brilliant books – so many of them created with his late wife, Janet, the highly talented illustrator – have been described as ‘mini masterpieces’.
“Allan’s are some of the very best – true classics, which will be loved by children and families for years to come. Dear Allan, we will all miss you enormously.”
Allan Ahlberg is survived by his second wife, Vanessa, his stepdaughters, Saskia and Johanna, and his daughter, Jessica, who has followed in her parents’ footsteps, becoming an author and illustrator, publishing Fairytales for Mr. Barker, and collaborating on other works, including a few written by her father.
