Peter Porter's first collection of poetry, Once Bitten, Twice Bitten, was published in 1961. The Cost of Seriousness, regarded by many critics as his best work, was written after the death of his first wife in 1974. Collected Poems (1983) won the Duff Cooper Prize and The Automatic Oracle (1987) won the Whitbread Poetry Award in 1988. He was awarded the Gold Medal for Australian Literature in 1990. Peter Porter died in April 2010.
