Peter M. Sacks was born in 1950 in South Africa. Sacks studied at Oxford, as well as in the United States, at Princeton and Yale (where he wrote, partly as his thesis, The English Elegy: Studies in the Genre from Spenser to Yeats). All through this time, which included the study of art and the history of painting, Sacks also spent years of travel, often times on foot walking across various parts of South and North America, Africa, Europe and Asia. His recent paintings challenge our assumptions of what might or might not be human, whether in ourselves, or in the marks we make upon the spaces we inhabit, construct, deform or save. He has published five anthologies of poetry and several individual poems have been published in, for example, The New Yorker. Peter Sacks divides his time between Normandy, France and Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he teaches at Harvard University. 

Events participated in:

Resistance!: Watch Allan Little as he talks to the jail mate of Nelson Mandela and former PM of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool, Professor Christina Murray who helped draft the South African Constitution, and South African artist, Peter Sacks, as they talk about South Africa, and the concept of resistance and renewal, in the context of Sack’s extraordinary multi-dimensional exhibition, Resistance, at Summerhall Arts, featuring 54 resistance figures from across the globe over the last 120 years. In celebration of BBC correspondent George Alagiah and his most recent book Burning Land. (2023)

Peter Sacks: The Debatable Land: Drop by and find out how Peter Sacks created his monumental triptych The Debatable Land for this landmark referendum year. (2014)

An Act of Scottish Union?: Join artist Peter Sacks as he brings his monumental triptych The Debatable Land to life – a pictorial homage and treatise on Scotland- commissioned by Beyond Borders to celebrate Scotland’s referendum year. Mark Muller Stuart QC introduces. Afterwards, enjoy a glass of wine with some music. (2014)

Walk – Walking Scott’s Border Ballads: At yon castle wa’ join Fiona Houston as she talks to acclaimed modern artist and Harvard Lit Professor Peter Sacks and leads him through true Elfyn-land and beyond to rediscover the Medieval Border Ballads saved, and tinkered with, by Sir Walter Scott. (2013)

Was Sir Walter Scott a Lyrical Nationalist: Discover acclaimed modern artist and Harvard literary professor Peter Sacks, as he explores and brings to life the timeless tales of Walter Scott’s collection of Scottish Border Ballads with the help of Jim Naughtie. Peter has been commissioned to produce a major new work for Traquair incorporating the history and texture of the Scottish Borders. (2013)