2022 Peter Bakowski

In Spring 2022, Peter Bakowski was appointed the first Virtual Writer in Residence at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation by Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester UNESCO City of Literature for the second Festival of Libraries. As part of his residency, he was commissioned to create a new series of portrait poems exploring the interplay of words and music, wit and performance in the creative life of Anthony Burgess and other Manchester creatives.

Peter discussed his residency and The Burgess & Manchester Poems in a special Instagram Q&A for Manchester Literature Festival with local writer and host Kate Feld on 9 December 2022. You can download a free PDF of Peter's commissioned poems above. 

Peter Bakowski is a poet and library lover based in Melbourne City of Literature. He has been writing poetry for 40 years and has published many collections including Our Ways on Earth Waldo’s Game, Nearly Lunch and On Luck Street. His poems have been translated into many languages and he prides himself on writing clear, accessible poems, using ordinary words to say extraordinary things. He has been Writer-in-Residence in Rome, Paris, Macau, Suzhou (China), Greenmount (Western Australia), Battery Point (Tasmania) and Broken Hill (New South Wales). An avid music lover, Peter has presented jazz programmes on Melbourne radio stations 3RRR and 3CR and used to run his own influential record shop Exposure Records.