About Peter

Peter Mitchell came into this world in 1957 in metropolitan Sydney and spent his formative years in the lower Hunter Valley between rural Maitland and industrial Newcastle. Now residing in Lismore in Bundajalung Country (NSW), he is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Conspiracy of Skin (Ginninderra Press, 2018) and The Scarlet Moment (Picaro Press, 2009) and crafts poetry, short fiction, memoir, literary criticism and a range of journalism.
His writing is published in international and national print and online journals, magazines and anthologies. His poetry has been published in The Blue Nib (Ireland), Social Alternatives, Styluslit, Rabbit, Bent Street, Softblow Singapore), Australian Poetry Anthology, Bluepepper, Brain Drip, Verity la, Eureka Street, Landscapes: The Journal of the International Centre for Landscapes and Language, Windfall: Australian haiku, New England Review and Eucalypt: a tanka journal, among others; short fiction has appeared in Pure Slush, Campaign and the Newsletter of the Canberra Science Fiction Society and memoir included in Meanjin, capital Q and Bent Street.
Refereed papers have appeared in Australian Literary Studies, Southerly and Landscapes: The Journal for the International Centre for Landscape and Language while his book reviews are published in Northerly Cordite Poetry Review, International Journal of Multicultural Literature, Overland, Australian Book Review and New England Review, among other magazines and newspapers. A range of journalism was published in community press papers like Campaign and the Sydney Star Observer.
He has been awarded numerous awards, fellowships, residencies and grants. In 2001, he was awarded an Emerging Writer-in-Residence Residency at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writer’s Centre (WA) while in 2002 and 2003 respectively, he was the recipient of the Northern Rivers Writers Centre Residential Mentorship. As a recipient of the 2014 Dorothy Hewett Flagship Fellowship for Poetry (Varuna Writers' Centre, NSW), a 2014-2015 Artist with Disability grant and the 2018 Olvar Wood Mentorship (Qld), he completed his memoir, Fragments through the Epidemicof the Lurgi , a poetry chapbook, Conspiracy of Skin as well as working towards a full collection of poetry. His memoir awaits a publisher.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
2001 | Post-Graduate Bachelor of Arts with 11A Honours (English), University of Queensland. Thesis: ‘Bearing Witness: The Writing of Gary Dunne’ |
1990 | Diploma of Education (Secondary), University of Sydney |
1988 | Bachelor of Arts (Communication), University of Technology, Sydney |
Media
- 'Danger: Poets Ahead' The Byron Shire Echo 18 June 2013, p. 5;
- 'Locals end the silence for a queer history' The Northern Star 7 July 2011 p. 7;
- 'Council grants community wishes' The Northern Rivers Echo 29 July 2010 p. 8;
- 'HisHer Story - The History of Tropical Fruits' (Edited from historical writings by Peter Mitchell) Official Festical Guide Tropical Fruits' New Years Festival 2010 p. 4;