Peter Benchley (b. May 8, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American author.

From a literary family, he is the son of author Nathaniel Benchley and grandson of Algonquin Round Table founder Robert Benchley. Peter Benchley is an alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University.

After graduating, he worked for The Washington Post, then as an editor at Newsweek and a speech-writer in the White House. Jaws was published in 1974, and later made into a film by Steven Spielberg, for which Benchley wrote the screenplay. He is a member of the National Council of Environmental Defense and is a spokesman for its Oceans Program

Bibliography

Fiction

1974 Jaws

1976 The Deep

1979 The Island

1982 The Girl of the Sea of Cortez

1986 Q Clearance

1989 Rummies

1991 Beast

1994 White Shark

1997 Peter Benchley's Creature

Non-fiction

1994 Ocean Planet: Writings and Images of the Sea

2001 Shark Trouble: True Stories About Sharks and the Sea

2002 Shark!: True Stories and Lessons from the Deep

2005 Shark Life: True Stories About Sharks and the Sea (with Karen Wojtyla)

See also

• Jaws (movie)