Aaron Blabey author page

Aaron Blabey biography

Aaron Blabey is an Australian author and illustrator renowned for his contributions to children’s literature. He is the creator of several bestselling series, including Pig the Pug, The Bad Guys, and Thelma the Unicorn. His works have been published in over 30 countries, with more than 55 million copies in print worldwide.

Before his writing career, Blabey worked as an actor from 1989 to 2005, earning acclaim for his role in the television series The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, for which he received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama in 1994.

Blabey transitioned to writing and illustrating children’s books in the mid-2000s. His debut picture book, Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley, was published in 2007 and won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Award for Early Childhood in 2008. He continued to produce a series of successful titles, including Sunday Chutney, Stanley Paste, and The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon, which received multiple accolades.

In 2014, Blabey launched the Pig the Pug series, followed by Thelma the Unicorn in 2015. Both series achieved international success and were adapted into animated films, with Thelma the Unicorn released by Netflix in May 2024.

The Bad Guys, a graphic novel series for junior readers, debuted in 2015 and became a New York Times #1 bestseller. The series was adapted into an animated feature film by DreamWorks Animation, released in April 2022, with Blabey serving as an executive producer. A sequel is scheduled for release in August 2025.

In 2025, Blabey signed an eight-figure deal with Macmillan to produce seven new books across two series aimed at tween readers: Game of Pets, a fantasy series set to debut in 2026, and The Awfuls, a psychological sci-fi series.

Blabey’s contributions to children’s literature have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2008 Children’s Book Council of Australia Award, the 2012 White Ravens Award, and the 2016 Indie Book Award for Best Children’s Book.