Literary Business

Peter Finch is a poet, writer, performer, walker and literary entrepreneur living in Cardiff. He was at the forefront of the UK's small press revolution in the 60s and the 70s with his magazine Second Aeon and pioneered performance poetry in Wales during the 1980s. From 1974 to 1995 he ran the Oriel Bookshop in Cardiff. From 1996 to 2011 he was Chief Executive of Yr Academi Gymreig / The Welsh Academy, an organisation which was later rebranded as Literature Wales. His published works are extensive. Everything To Play For - The Poetry of Peter Finch, a critical study of his work by Andrew Taylor appeared in 2025.

“Finch is so good because of his constant need to create and recreate, and his refusal to accept barriers.” – Ian Macmillan“intelligent, irreverent and often genuinely funny” – Vernon Scannell, Ambit“Finch deserves a Welsh knighthood.” – Richard Kostelanetz, Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes"I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish…Finch deploys the right amount of irreverence and respect to tell his stories" – Desmond Clifford, Nation.CymruA handbook, a demystification and an intimate history of the wide literary world. Written with Peter Finch’s characteristic good humour, The Literary Business relates through bitingly well-observed vignettes how it is and how it was over the past six decades.This book has something for everyone: writers, academics, critics and other enthusiasts in search of a no-holds-barred personal history; administrators wishing to navigate the obstacle course that is funding writers and writing; fans hunting data on the Poetry wars of the 70s,and fellow litterateurs who will want to check whether they have received a mention in these pages. If you’re new to the game and seeking publication, or just someone who enjoys the cut and thrust of the literary world, then this book is for you. Few others in Wales know the business and how we got here like Finch does. And few others will have been capable of reporting back in such an entertaining fashion.