Peter lives near Moniaive in Dumfriesshire. He led Moniaive’s successful bid for a Creative Place Award in 2015 and started writing poetry in 2016 in the Moniaive Poetry Workshop, set-up within the Award programme.

Peter won the Fresh Voice Award at the 2020 Wigtown Book Festival Poetry Prize, and his poems have been published in various magazines and online. He is currently working with mentor Kenneth Steven – funded by the Fresh Voice Award – to prepare a first collection for publication.

During his Cove Park residency Peter will commence the planning for a new body of work,

The Archipelago of Silences, concerned with the making of masculinity. “I’ll be exploring the price we boys and men pay, and the cost we exact on the world, in striving to fit ourselves to the constricting templates of manhood.”

“I’ve been thinking about this for years, and I’m grateful to Dumfries and Galloway Unlimited for funding the residency and giving me the time to begin liberating this stuff from my head and onto paper.”

Peter’s background is in public service, as a town planner, cycling activist and public policy/ equalities advisor. He has also worked in community arts and the workers’ co-operative movement.

Image: Peter Roberts and Stroanfreggan Bowls Hut, the inspiration for a suite of poems that Peter is currently working on.