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Touch
From the heat of Africa to the warmth of France or the snowbound dales of northern England, this is an assured and absorbing collection. Including the Bridport prize-winning story 'The Prince', Touch spans twenty years of short-story writing from author and poet Graham Mort. From a young child adrift on an ice-filled lake to an ageing farmer facing life alone, the twenty-one stories display a deep sensitivity to both the natural world and to human relationships. In skilfully crafted prose, vivid with detail, Mort examines the strength and fragility of life and the ties that hold us within it.
- GenresShort Stories
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2010
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11 people want to read
About the author
Graham Mort
23 books7 followersGraham Mort has had a lengthy career as a freelance writer and artist in education, specialising in innovative combined arts projects. He has taught writing courses for the Arvon Foundation and Taliesin Trust and was director of studies for the Open College of the Arts, extending distance learning though new technology. He is currently professor of Creative Writing and Transcultural Literature, at Lancaster University where he directs the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research. He has worked extensively on literature development projects in Africa for the British Council and for the University of Soran in Kurdistan. Amongst his many awards are the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2011, the Bridport Prize for the short story collection Touch (Seren 2010), Cheltenham Poetry Competition first prize (twice), a major Eric Gregory Award, two Duncan Lawrie prizes in the Arvon Foundation International Poetry competition and a Poetry Book Society recommendation. His latest book of poems, published by Seren in 2011, is, Cusp.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 22, 2012
this just won the Edge Hill prize (UK prize for short story collections). I know his stories from magazines and anthologies over the years, and they are good.
It says above that the principal language is Latvian!
...did enjoy it, can see why it won.. more later
update March 2012, haven't really had time to do a detailed review but here's a few thoughts. will fill in quotes etc later:
well observed stories of (usually) inadequate men, sometimes boys (and girls) up against the forces of nature (the snow one, the fox one) or of a society they don’t quite get the hang of (The Friday night piss-head one, the old actor one) or of bitter but unexplained anger (the railway waiting one). Mort is a poet and brings a poet’s eye to his descriptions (eg?) The feeling after you put the book down is of a whole strata of society not able to control their lives or what’s around them (the factory one where the saw kills a fellow worker), dislocated…
It says above that the principal language is Latvian!
...did enjoy it, can see why it won.. more later
update March 2012, haven't really had time to do a detailed review but here's a few thoughts. will fill in quotes etc later:
well observed stories of (usually) inadequate men, sometimes boys (and girls) up against the forces of nature (the snow one, the fox one) or of a society they don’t quite get the hang of (The Friday night piss-head one, the old actor one) or of bitter but unexplained anger (the railway waiting one). Mort is a poet and brings a poet’s eye to his descriptions (eg?) The feeling after you put the book down is of a whole strata of society not able to control their lives or what’s around them (the factory one where the saw kills a fellow worker), dislocated…
April 9, 2021
Touch is a collection of twenty-one short stories by Graham Mort. The book opens with two beautiful examples, A Walk in the Snow, and Annik and Serge. Daniel was also beautiful, but sad.
There are some dark themes in the collection, such as animal cruelty (Ducklings) and sexual abuse (Why I’ve Always Loved Fishmongers). A good number of the stories are unhappy, even miserable (Rain), and at times even I felt there was too much description, to the point that I struggled to hold onto the thread of narrative.
The prose was honed and well-crafted throughout, but I was disappointed to find a couple of the stories didn’t go anywhere, ending almost as if the writer gave up, or ran out of time or words. The title story, Touch, stood out as one of these, coming to a jolting stop that left several loose threads dangling. As a reader, I felt frustrated at having invested time in reading it, when there was ultimately no point.
Would I recommend Touch as a collection of short stories? Well, the above probably reads like a harsh review, but yes, I would recommend it. If, like me, you’re a fan of atmospheric scene-setting and description, you will enjoy most of these stories.
There are some dark themes in the collection, such as animal cruelty (Ducklings) and sexual abuse (Why I’ve Always Loved Fishmongers). A good number of the stories are unhappy, even miserable (Rain), and at times even I felt there was too much description, to the point that I struggled to hold onto the thread of narrative.
The prose was honed and well-crafted throughout, but I was disappointed to find a couple of the stories didn’t go anywhere, ending almost as if the writer gave up, or ran out of time or words. The title story, Touch, stood out as one of these, coming to a jolting stop that left several loose threads dangling. As a reader, I felt frustrated at having invested time in reading it, when there was ultimately no point.
Would I recommend Touch as a collection of short stories? Well, the above probably reads like a harsh review, but yes, I would recommend it. If, like me, you’re a fan of atmospheric scene-setting and description, you will enjoy most of these stories.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews