Kocan, Peter, 1947-...

Peter Kocan was born in Newcastle, NSW, and grew up in Melbourne, Vic. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1966 following an attempted assassination of Arthur Calwell. Kocan was incarcerated for the next 10 years, first in prison and then in Morisset Hospital. During this time he began writing poetry, publishing his first anthology, The other side of the fence, in 1975. He has since published poetry and prose, including several plays, as well as working in amateur theatre as an actor and producer. In 1982, Kocan won the Mattara Poetry Prize for 'From the private poems of Governor Caulfield', and in 1983 he received the NSW Premier's Literary Award for The cure (1983), a semi-fictional novel based on his prison experiences. He graduated from the University of Newcastle in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours).