Like three centuries of his ancestors, Christian Peet was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Unlike his ancestors, he received a Bachelor’s Degree from Bennington College, a Master’s Degree from Goddard College, and has taught both Literature and Creative Writing for the City University of New York (CUNY), at Brooklyn College and Hunter College. In 2003, he founded Tarpaulin Sky Press, launching one of the internet’s earliest literary magazines that is still active today, expanding in 2006 to publish books in paperback and fine-art editions. Today Christian also works as in independent consultant and developer for a few dozen online brands and personalities, from artists and musicians to executive coaches and celebrity psychics.
Tarpaulin Sky Press authors and titles have been winners and finalists for awards and grants from The Whiting Award, The National Endowment for the Arts, the The Poetry Society of America, PEN America, and Lambda Literary, and are glowingly reviewed in a wide variety of venues.
BuzzFeed News : “proves indie presses deserve your attention.” The Nation : “warped from one world to another.” Huffington Post : “simultaneously metaphysical and visceral … scary, sexual, and intellectually disarming.” VICE : “beautifully startling and fucked and funny and tender and sad and putrid and glitter-covered all at once.” NPR Books : “only becomes more surreal.” Publishers Weekly “Best Summer Reads” : “hallucinatory … trance-inducing.”
Christian’s own poetry and prose, circa 2000-2010, appears in various indie and university journals, anthologies, and fine-press limited editions in the U.S. and U.K, including The Nines (Palm Press), Pluto: Never Forget (Interbirth Books), and a collection of “postcards,” Big American Trip (Shearsman). Since 2010, Christian has been researching and writing a true-crime memoir, which is now scheduled for publication in 2025.
Outside of his work, Christian is veritable hermit who avoids the internet as one avoids the plague. He is married to author Elena Georgiou, his partner of more than twenty years. At their 1840s Vermont home, sharing a hilltop with a cemetery, Christian works by the light of an oil lamp in his barn. He spends his free time stacking firewood or tending fruit trees and wildflower gardens, conversing with incorporeal entities and sundry critters domestic and wild.
Needless to say, Christian is not found on social media. He may be contacted via the form below, although his schedule does not always permit a response. Any editorial or media concerns regarding Tarpaulin Sky should be directed to the press website.
Old friends are his favorite friends: if you knew Christian before the dawn of virtual century and have since lost touch, you can bet that he will be thrilled to reconnect.
