Peter Bently

Peter Bently is a British children's writer. He is best known for his rhyming picture books including The Great Dog Bottom Swap, Meet the Parents, The Shark in the Dark and Potion Commotion. His books have won several awards including the 2022 Children's Book Award (UK) for Octopus Shocktopus, illustrated by Steven Lenton. Cats Ahoy!, his first picture book with Jim Field, won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 and King Jack and the Dragon was named as an American Library Association Notable Book of the year.

Life

Peter Bently was born in 1960 in Tidworth, Hampshire, England. His father's job as an army bandmaster meant that Bently grew up in a variety of places in England and abroad, including Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong, and was educated at ten schools. After studying languages at Oxford, Bently worked as a journalist, then as an editor and writer of illustrated reference books.
His first picture book for children, A Lark in the Ark, illustrated by Lynne Chapman, was published in 2008. Since then he has published over seventy titles, his most recent books including Octopus Shocktopus for Nosy Crow ; Dogs in Disguise for HarperCollins Children's Books ; and The King’s Birthday Suit! for Bloomsbury. He lives in London with his wife Lucy Curtin, an actor and LAMDA teacher.