Hamm was born in Munich in 1937. His mother died in 1940, and he grew up with her parents in Weingarten, Oberschwaben, and in several Catholic boarding schools. He dropped out of school at age 14. He worked on a farm and began as an apprentice to be a bookseller, but did not complete it.
Career
His first published poems appeared in the literary magazine Akzente in 1954 when he was age 17 and in 1956 he was invited to read at the Gruppe 47. From 1959, he travelled to the GDR several times where he met authors such as Peter Huchel and Sarah Kirsch. He met Paul Celan in Paris. He studied literature not at universities, but by means of direct communication with authors, including Nelly Sachs, with whom he corresponded. Hamm worked for the publisher from 1959 to 1960. He then was a freelance writer and journalist, publishing literary and music criticism in Der Spiegel and Die Zeit, among others. From 1964 to 2002, Hamm worked as Kulturredakteur for the Bayerischer Rundfunk. He wrote several television documentaries, including portraits of Ingeborg Bachmann, Heinrich Böll, Peter Handke and Martin Walser. Hamm was a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung from 1991, serving as its vice president, and of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste from 1996. He was a member of the German section of the Pen Zentrum. He was a jury member of the Petrarca-Preis, the Peter-Huchel-Preis and of the monthly, among others. He belonged to the critics team of the monthly Literaturclub of the Schweizer Fernsehen from 1990 to 2014. He received the Grimme-Preis in 1976 for Die verbotene Schönheit, a film about Hans Werner Henze. Since the 1970s, Hamm had been the partner of Marianne Koch. They lived in Tutzing.
Peter Handke / Peter Hamm: Es leben die Illusionen – Gespräche in Chaville und anderswo. Göttingen 2006
* French edition: Vive les illusions! Entretiens. Traduit de l'allemand par Anne Weber. Paris 2008
* Spanish edition: Vivan las ilusiones – Conversaciones en Chaville Y en otros lugares. Traducción de Eustaquio Barjau. Valencia 2011
Thomas Bernhard / Peter Hamm: Sind Sie gern böse? Ein Nachtgespräch zwischen Thomas Bernhard und Peter Hamm im Hause Bernhard in Ohlsdorf. Frankfurt am Main 2011
* Spanish edition: ?Le gusta ser malvado? Trad. del alemán por Miguel Sáenz. Madrid 2013
As editor
Licht hinterm Eis – Schwedische Lyrik von 1900 – 1957. Auswahl und Übersetzung gemeinsam mit Stig Schönberg von Peter Hamm. Stierstadt im Taunis 1957
Die Kornblumen und die Städte – Tschechische Poesie unseres Jahrhunderts. Herausgegeben und übertragen gemeinsam mit Elisabeth Borchers von Peter Hamm. Stierstadt im Taunus 1962
Aussichten – Junge Lyriker des deutschen Sprachraums - vorgestellt von Peter Hamm. Munich 1966
Welches Tier gehört zu dir? Eine poetische Arche Noah – errichtet von Peter Hamm. Municih / Vienna 1984
Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn – Italien im deutschen Gedicht. Herausgegeben von Peter Hamm. Frankfurt am Main 1987
Kritik / von wem / für wen / wie – Eine Selbstdarstellung der Kritik. Herausgegeben von Peter Hamm. Munich 1968
* Spanish edition: Critica de la Critica. Barcelona 1971
Artur Lundkvist Gedichte, edited and with an epilogue by Hamm, Cologne – Berlin 1963
Peter Handke / Hermann Lenz: Briefwechsel. Mit einem Essay von Peter Hamm., Frankfurt am Main 2006
TV film
Alfred Brendel, Pianist. Ein Porträt., book and direction, 45’. Radio Bremen 1973
Alfred Brendel spielt Schubert.TV series in 13 sequences, music and image direction, Radio Bremen 1976–1977
Heinrich Böll – Nobelpreisträger, book and direction, 60', from the series Nobelpreisträger, Bavaria Produktionsgesellschaft 1974
