We’re sorry to report the passing of the award-winning Australian author, illustrator and artist Terry Denton, aged 76, whose work has entertained several generations of avid readers.
His publisher, Curtis Brown, shared that Terry passed away surrounded by his family on Monday.
As his official website notes, Terry’s work was characterised by a devious sense of humour, an adventurous and inventive drawing style and an informed flair for what interests and amuses kids.
Across a 30-year plus career, he wrote and illustrated many much-loved picture books and junior fiction novels, including the Gasp! series, which has been adapted into an animated TV series of the same name; and illustrated numerous others for many notable Australian authors.
Based in Melbourne, where he lived with his wife and three children, he is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the bestselling, wild and wonderfully anarchic Treehouse series with author and Australian Children’s Laureate Andy Griffiths, which has been published in over thirty countries, and sold over 10 million copies in Australia, won 80 children’s choice awards and 10 Australian Book Industry Awards.
In 2016, The 78-Storey Treehouse became the fastest-selling book in Australian publishing history, and the series regularly topped the best-sellers lists.
His books also include The Upside-down History of Downunder with Alison Lloyd, The Worm Who Knew Karate with Jill Lever, as well as the Gasp! books, and the world-famous Just! books, the latter published by Macmillan.
He won more than 40 children’s choice awards and was shortlisted many times in the Children’s Book Council of Australia awards, including Felix and Alexander, which won Picture Book of the Year in 1986.
Terry was also a fine artist and had held several exhibitions around inner Melbourne.
“Terry’s illustrations are a pure explosion of joy,” noted the team at Books for Topics, a resource for children’s booklists. “Packed with comic-style line drawings, incredible treehouse diagrams and hilarious speech bubbles, his artwork is known for inspiring imaginations and being the catalyst for endless treehouse drawings of children’s own.
“With a high image-to-text ratio and a deliciously wacky sense of humour, the Treehouse books have earned a legendary reputation for hooking young readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. It’s no surprise that the series features so prominently across our BooksforTopics lists, including our Year 3 Recommended Reads, our Reluctant Reader lists and even inspiring its very own Branching Out guide due to its great popularity.”
“Working – and playing – with Terry over three decades has been an incredible honour and a pure delight,” said Andy Griffiths in a moving tribute. “I’ve never laughed so hard as I did when working with him, whether in the writing room or on stage. He was a true clown and much beloved.”
Terry’s children have also paid tribute to the illustrator whose work they said “gave joy to millions of children around the world”.
“And after all those stories and all those lives he touched, he always came home to us. We are so grateful that his stories will continue to live on, bringing wonder, laughter and comfort to generations yet to come and most especially to his beloved grandchildren, whoever will grow up knowing him through the magic he left behind.”
Our sympathies to Terry’s family, friends and co-authors at this time.
• Terry Denton, born 26th July 1950, died 21st September 2026 (age 76)
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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