Photograph: John Daniel Bilsborough
Peter Dann grew up in Melbourne, Australia, in the 1950s and early 60s.
After attending Melbourne Grammar School, Peter dropped out of university. Over the next fifteen years, he worked as a labourer, TV station operator, psychiatric nurse and taxi driver among other jobs, and wrote scripts for Homicide, Division 4, Bellbird and documentaries for Film Australia.
After completing a history degree at La Trobe University, Peter taught history and English, then returned to writing. He developed a film script with Film Victoria, wrote for A Country Practice and contributed two mini-dramas to Gillies and Company. Peter’s play A Hard Act to Follow was performed at La Mama in 1994 with Anne Phelan in the lead.
Peter worked for many years as a technical writer and IT support manager before returning to his true love of fiction.
Peter’s short story The Aerial Tree won the Grace Marion Wilson fiction award in 2012.
When he’s not writing or reading, Peter plays trumpet with a trad jazz practice group, and maintains a website and newsletter for Parent-Child Mother Goose Australia, an organisation that helps parents strengthen their attachment to young children through a shared enjoyment of songs, rhymes and stories.
Peter lives in Melbourne with his wife Marilyn. They have two sons.