Who is Peter Usborne?

Peter Usborne, our founder and MD, started working in children’s books when he found out he was going to become a parent. Soon after, in 1973, he revolutionized the world of publishing for children by setting up his own company – Usborne – and pioneering a new generation of engaging, innovative, illustrated books for children, which combined popular subject matter with unrivalled quality in editorial and production.

Fifty years on, Peter still claims that parenthood has been the greatest privilege of his life, and that publishing children’s books has been an extension of that. Now in his eighties, Peter still looks forward to coming to work every morning, and his roles as publisher and parent have never been more intertwined, as he now runs Usborne alongside his daughter Nicola Usborne, who is deputy MD.

Peter was awarded a CBE for Services to Literature in 2022. 

You can read more about Peter and the Usborne family on our website: Meet the Usborne Family