Finch, Peter

(1947- )

   Welsh poet, living in Cardiff, he is an avant-garde poet whose output is prodigious. He has published some twenty-five volumes of poetry, a collection of short stories, numerous reviews and critical essays, as well as a highly acclaimed, comprehensive guide to The Poetry Business (1994). His writing is "not recommended for the poetically conservative, strictly for addicts, masochists and freewheeling bohemians who like to shake a leg in suburbia" (The Independent on Sunday). He exhibited visual poetry internationally and toured with sound poet Bob Cobbing (see entry). He is much in demand as a reader as well as a lecturer at festivals and venues up and down the country. He compiles the poetry section of Macmillan's annual Writer's Handbook and the selfpublishing section for A&C Black's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook. Some of his publications: Pieces of the Universe, 1969. Connecting Tubes, 1980. Selected Poems, 1987. Poems for Ghosts, 1991. Five Hundred Cobbings, 1994. Some of his poems: "A Welsh Wordscape," "How Callum Innes Paints," "Marks the English Left on the Map," "The Computer's First Proverbs," "The Tattoo," "Why Do You Want to Be English?"

   Sources: Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1990. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1993. Biography and Works of Peter Finch (http://www.peterfinch.co.uk/). Other British and Irish Poetry Since 1970. Richard Caddel and Peter Quartermain, ed. Wesleyan University Press, 1999. The Art of Noise: Peter Finch Sounds Off Claire Powell (http://www.peterfinch.co.uk/noise.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New British Poetry, 1968-88. Gillian Allnutt, Fred D'Aguiar and Ken Edwards, eds. Grafton Books, 1989. Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry. Dannie Abse, ed. Seren Books / Dufour Editions, 1997.