AustLit

Aaron Blabey was born in Bendigo in 1974, he graduated from Bendigo Senior Secondary College in 1990 before relocating to Sydney. Growing up Blabey was a talented artist and worked as a graphic designer, an actor, and in advertising before commercial success with his children’s book The Bad Guys. Living in New South Wales’ Blue Mountains, Blabey works as a full-time writer. 

At 32, Blabey published Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley (2007). The book was well received winning the CBCA Book of the Year Award for Early Childhood. In 2015, his series The Bad Guys and Thelma the Unicorn exploded with popularity. The Bad Guys series has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and was developed into a DreamWorks Animation in 2022. The Bad Guys : Episode 1 won the YABBA Award for Fiction for Younger Readers, the Indie Award for Children’s Book, the KOALA Award for Younger Readers and the KROC Award for Younger Readers. 

Thelma the Unicorn was adapted into a children’s animation in 2024 by Netflix Animation. Other notable works include the 10 book Pig the Pug Series, the Cat on the Run Series, standalones Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas ,Busting! , and Guff . Blabey has won a Koala Award nine times, a YABBA Award eight times and Aaron has been included on the Smithsonian Institute’s Notable Book List and was a National Literacy Ambassador in 2012.