Peter McDonald (born 28 October 1962, in Belfast) is a poet, university lecturer, and writer of literary criticism.
He holds the post of Christopher Tower Student and Tutor in Poetry in the English Language at Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford (and where the term "Student" is used for what elsewhere would be termed a "Fellow").
He has been writing poetry since his teens, and was the winner of national young poet competitions in 1978 and 1979.
In 1986, he was selected as one of the six writers (including Jo Shapcott and Adam Thorpe) featured in New Chatto Poets.
His book Mistaken Identities: Poetry and Northern Ireland discusses poets such as Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley and Paul Muldoon.