Peter Swanborn's poetry debut, Bij het zien van zijn lichaam (At the sight of his body), was published in 2007 as part of the Contrabas-series. One year later the book was nominated for the C. Buddingh' Prize
for the best poetry debut of the year. January 2009 Een koud bad (A cold bath), commissioned by CBK Zeeland Publishers for the Slib-series, was published. This book with 24 songs about people who drowned, was nominated for the PZC Public Award.
Autumn 2009 Podium Publishers published Tot ook ik verwaai (Untill I drift away as well), a monument for a demented mother. This book was nominated for the J.C. Bloem-poëzieprijs.

Since 2001 Swanborn has been working as a librettist for Nieuw Muziektheater Rotterdam. Productions
are the chamber opera's Strijd & Onthechting (Battle and Detachment), Bij Gebrek aan Conversatie
(For Lack of Conversation), Tegen de lamp (Against the Lamp) and the church opera GodsEigenTweeling (GodsOwnTwins). AMYGDALA, the most recent production, had its first night during the Rotterdam Opera Festival of Summer 2010.

Poems and articles by Peter Swanborn have been published in newspapers and magazines such as
De Gids, Het Liegend Konijn, De Zingende Zaag, Poëziekrant, Süddeutsche Zeitung (BRD), Action Poétique (FR), Talisman (USA), Ganymede (USA) and the Rotterdam based magazine for literature and
visual arts Tortuca, for which he is as an editor since 2006. Since 1997 he works as a literary critic for the leading Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. Before 1997 he worked and lived as an artist and photographer.