Peter Rose grew up in rural Victoria. After studying at Monash University and working as a bookseller, he moved to Oxford University Press and was a publisher there throughout the 1990s. He is currently the Editor of Australian Book Review. His first collection of poetry, The House of Vitriol, appeared in 1990, and was followed by The Catullan Rag (1993) and Donatello in Wangaratta (1998). His poetry and criticism have appeared in various anthologies. In 2001 he published a memoir, Rose Boys, which won several prizes, including the National Biography Award. His first novel will appear in 2005.
