Allan Ahlberg

Allan Ahlberg (1938–2025), one of the most acclaimed and successful authors of children’s books—including the best-selling Jolly Postman series—said that he dreamed of becoming a writer since the age of twelve. But his route to that goal was somewhat circuitous. Other jobs along the way included postman (not an especially jolly one, he recalled), gravedigger, plumber, and teacher. The author wrote his first book when he was thirty-seven, after a decade of teaching—a profession that he maintained was “much harder” than being a writer. Allan Ahlberg said that if he hadn’t become a writer, he would have loved to be a soccer player.