Peter David Goldsworthy AM (born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won major awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti. Goldsworthy began his writing life as a poet, as described in his 2013 comic memoir, His Stupid Boyhood, and regards poetic principles as the basis of all his writing. The Australian expatriate writer Clive James comments that Goldsworthy's poetry is often seen as a sideline, but argues that it is "at the centre of his achievement". James writes:His precise wit operates on every level, from the sonic (a concealed dove really does say hidden here, hidden here) to the conceptual (the human body really is packed tight like an attempt on the record of filling a Mini). The general impression is of a fastidious insistence that the particular comes first, and any general comment that follows had better be particular too. Life Goldsworthy was born in Minlaton, South Australia, and grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin in the Northern Territory. He graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1974, and worked in alcohol and drug rehabilitation for several years, but, with his poetry being published in Westerly and the Friendly Street Poetry Reader, he started dividing his working time equally between general practice and writing. Goldsworthy's eldest daughter Anna is a successful concert pianist and also an accomplished writer. They worked together on a stage adaptation of Goldsworthy's novel Maestro. Writing career Goldsworthy's novels have sold over 400,000 copies in Australia alone, and, with his poetry and short stories, have been translated into many European and Asian languages. He has won major literary prizes across most genres: for poetry, the short story, the novel, plays and opera. Novels His first novel Maestro was reissued as part of the Angus & Robertson Australian Classics series, and was voted one of the Top 40 Australian books of all time by members of the Australian Society of Authors. His 1995 novel Wish was also recently reissued in the Text Publishing Text Classics series. Three Dog Night won the 2004 FAW Christina Stead Award, and was long-listed for the Dublin/IMPAC prize. His first novel for ten years, Minotaur, was published in 2019. His novels have been widely translated, and adapted for the stage. Poetry Goldsworthy's poetry has been widely published in the English-speaking world, from journals such