Ahlberg, Allan (1938– )

English writer of numerous children's books, many of which were illustrated by his wife, Janet, who died in 1994. Having trained as a teacher, Ahlberg's work takes advantage of his knowledge of children, and can be seen in his collections of poetry Please Mrs Butler (1984) and Heard it in the Playground (1990) which together won the 1990 Signal poetry award, one of many awards received by the pair. The first books Janet and Allan Ahlberg wrote together were the Brick Street Boys series, and their last collaboration was The Jolly Postman (1986), which has become one of the best-selling children's books of all time.