Tribute to children’s author and Sunderland alumus Allan Ahlberg, who has died aged 87

Published on 8, August, 2025

Celebrated author and Sunderland Technical College alumnus Allan Ahlberg has died aged 87.

Alongside his wife Janet, an award-winning illustrator, Ahlberg is best known for creating and publishing a host of bestselling nursery classics including Peepo!, Funny Bones and Each Peach Pear and Plum.

Born in 1938, Ahlberg was adopted into a working-class family living in Oldbury where after school he would work as a postman, gravedigger and plumber’s mate.

On the advice if the then head of Oldbury’s parks and cemeteries, Ahlberg went on to study teaching at the Sunderland Teachers Training College. In 1969, the college became part of Sunderland Polytechnic, now the University of Sunderland.

It was during his time at the College where he met Janet Hall, who became his wife in 1969. After completing his studies, Ahlberg settled in Leicester and taught in a primary school while Janet worked as an illustrator.

The pair went on to publish a range of children’s books, starting with the Old Joke Book in 1976, and in the following year publishing The Vanishment of Thomas Tull and Burglar Bill.

They continued their collaboration for 20 years until Janet died of breast cancer in 1994. In 1997, Ahlberg collected his wife’s works in Janet’s Last Book and chose a new publisher Walker Books. He later married his editor from Walker Books, Vanessa Clarke.

Ahlberg went on to create more books, collaborating with a range of illustrators including Bruce Ingman, Raymond Briggs and later his daughter Jessica. His last book Under the Table was published in 2023.

Ahlberg is survived by his wife Vanessa alongside his daughter Jessica and two stepdaughters, Saskia and Johanna.

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