Porter, Peter

Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1929 Peter Porter moved to London in 1951 and worked in bookselling and advertising before becoming a freelance writer and broadcaster working for The Observer as poetry critic. During the 1950s he was associated with poets in 'The Group' (including Martin Bell and Philip Hobsbaum). His first collection of poetry, Once Bitten, Twice Bitten, was published in 1961. The Cost of Seriousness, regarded by many critics as his best work, was written after the death of his first wife in 1974. Collected Poems (1983) won the Duff Cooper Prize and The Automatic Oracle (1987) won the Whitbread Poetry Award in 1988. He was awarded the Gold Medal for Australian Literature in 1990. Peter Porter died in April 2010.;