Winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2011.From the balmy heat of Africa to the snowbound dales of northern England, this is an assured and absorbing short-story collection. Including the Bridport prize-winning story 'The Prince', Touch spans twenty years of short-story writing from author and poet Graham Mort. Be it a young child adrift on an ice-filled lake, or an ageing farmer facing life alone, these twenty-one stories display a deep sensitivity to both the natural world and 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."I chose 'The Prince'… because the writing is word-perfect… with the story quietly remarking on how something out of the ordinary both does and doesn't affect daily life.... I was enchanted…"Novelist and Bridport judge Tracy ChevalierGraham 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. He lectures in Creative Writing at Lancaster University, where he directs the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research and develops writing projects in Africa for the British Council. Among his many awards are the 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.