Born April 26, 1951 in Red Deer, Alberta, Peter Christensen moved to B.C. in 1969. He received a degree in creative writing from the University of Lethbridge where he also founded one of Alberta's first literary magazines, Canada Goose, with Lorne Daniel. His experience working on an oil patch in Alberta inspired Rig Talk, a collection of poems. As a poet, Christensen was selected by Al Purdy to be included in his anthology Storm Warns 2 (McClelland & Stewart).

In B.C. he has worked as a Park Ranger and Christmas tree farmer. He has been the main organizer for the Mountain Writers Festivals, he has developed the budget and facilitation for the "Western Canadian Constitutional Conference, The Nakoda Project" held in Alberta in 1992; he organized the Headwaters conferences on culture, environment, and business; and he worked with B. C.'s Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE) to assist the East Kootenay Land Use Planning Table by writing their report to the Commission on land use issues. He has written three librettos for composer Robert Rosen's outdoors opera Canyon Shadows performed across Canada. Rosen's musical version of Hailstorm, the title poem from Christensen's 1974 book, has been sung by Michelle Todd at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2017.

A former guide, ranch hand and park ranger, Peter Christensen has lived in many places, including near Radium Hot Springs in southeastern British Columbia. He has since relocated to the lower Skeena Estuary, giving rise to his fifth poetry collection from Thistledown Press, Oona River Poems.

BOOKS:

Oona River Poems (Thistledown Press 2019) $20 978-1-77187-190-7
Winter Range (Thistledown Press, 2001)
I Came Upon a Bear (Hawk Press, 1996)
Canyon Shadows: Animals (Information Design, 1992)
Canyon Shadows: Stones (Information Design, 1990)
To Die Ascending (Thistledown Press, 1988)
Rig Talk (Thistledown Press, 1981)
All Miracles Happen Locally (1983)
Hailstorm (Thistledown Press, 1977)
Intravenous (1974)

[BCBW 2019]