Peter Carpenter’s seven poetry collections have been favourably reviewed in many journals including the TLS and PN Review. He co-directs Worple Press, tutors for Arvon, and ‘Bowieland’, his most recent book, is a Waterstone’s Non-Fiction pick for 2025.
Peter Carpenter’s most recent poetry collection is ‘Tintoretto’s Angels’ (Mariscat, 2022); this and his six previous collections, including a New and Selected Poems, ‘Just Like That’, (Smith/Doorstop) have favourably reviewed in many journals (‘a masterly portrait painter’, Poetry London) including the TLS and PN Review; his work has also been widely anthologised (in Bloodaxe’s ‘Life-Saving Poems, for example). He is a tutor for Arvon and his chapter on the teaching of creative writing appeared in ‘The Handbook of Contemporary British and Irish Poetry’ (OUP). He has tutored and performed at many festivals, including Aldeburgh and Ledbury, and for many organisations, including the British Library and the Royal Academy of Arts.
He was a Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Reading and for many years a Visiting Fellow for the Writing Programme at the University of Warwick; he is currently working in association with Pembroke College, Cambridge on the Elemental Poetry project. He has co-directed Worple Press with his wife, Amanda, for over twenty five years and published work by many well-known writers, including Iain Sinclair and Elizabeth Cook. ‘Bowieland’, his most recent book, traces the footsteps of David Bowie, is a Waterstone’s Non-Fiction pick for 2025, and has been described as a ‘sublime time-travelling quest’.
