Helen Mort – författare

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE T.S ELIOT PRIZE AND COSTA POETRY AWARD 2013*'A stone is lobbed in '84, hangs like a star over Orgreave. Welcome to Sheffield. Border-land,our town of miracles...' - 'Scab'From the clash between striking miners and police to the delicate conflicts in personal relationships, Helen Mort's stunning debut is marked by distance and division. Named for a street in Sheffield, this is a collection that cherishes specificity: the particularity of names; the reflections the world throws back at us; the precise moment of a realisation. Distinctive and assured, these poems show us how, at the site of conflict, a moment of reconciliation can be born.

Guardian Books to Watch 2022Evening Standard Books to Watch 2022Bookseller Editor's ChoiceWinner of the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature'A wonderful book - exhilarating and taut, fearless in its explorations of wildness, risk, motherhood, and the inner and outer worlds of the writer' Jon McGregor'This book is beautiful' Emma Jane Unsworth'Climbing gives you the illusion of being in control, just for a while, the tantalising sense of being able to stay one move ahead of death'As a child, Helen Mort was drawn to the thrill and risk of climbing, the tension between human and rockface, and the climber's need to be hyperaware of the sensory world - to feel the texture of rock under their fingers, how their crampons bite into the ice, the subtle shifts in weather. But when she becomes a mother for the first time, she finds herself re-examining this most elemental of disciplines, and the way that we view women who put themselves in danger.Written by one of Britain's most talented young writers, A Line Above the Sky melds memoir and nature writing to create what will surely become a classic of the genre; it asks why humans are compelled to climb and poses other, deeper questions about self, motherhood and freedom. It is a love letter to losing oneself in physicality, whether that in the risk of climbing a granite wall solo, without ropes, or the intensity of bringing a child into the world.

The debut novel from the brilliant and award-winning poet Helen MortAlexa is a police community support officer whose world feels unstable.Caron, Alexa’s girlfriend, is pushing her away and pushing herself even harder. A climber, she fixates on a brutal route. Leigh, who works at a local gear shop, watches Caron climb and feels complicit.Meanwhile, an ex-police officer compulsively revisits the April day in 1989 that changed his life forever. Trapped in his memories of the disaster, he tracks the Hillsborough inquests, questioning everything.As the young women negotiate Sheffield’s violent inheritance, the rock faces of Stanage and their relationships with each other, Mort stunningly grounds these journeys of trust and trauma, fear and falling, in the texture of the urban and natural terrain underfoot.'A beautifully accomplished debut...a deeply felt work of loss, time and healing' Guardian‘Helen Mort is unmistakably one of the most brilliant poets of her generation; Black Car Burning shows her to be a remarkable novelist’ Robert Macfarlane

* A Poetry Book Society Recommendation 2016*'When we climb aloneen cordée feminine,we are magicians of the Alps –we make the routes we followdisappear'The poems of Helen Mort's second collection offer an unforgettable perspective on the heights we scale and the distances we run, the routes we follow and the paths we make for ourselves.Here are odes to the women who dared to break new ground – from Miss Jemima Morrell, a young Victorian woman from Yorkshire who hiked the Swiss Peaks in her skirts and petticoats, to the modern British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, who died descending from the summit of K2.Distinctive and courageous, these are poems of passion and precipices, of edges and extremes. No Map Could Show Them confirms Helen Mort’s position as one of the finest young poets at work today.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION*'A raw, tender, potent collection' - JESSICA ANDREWS'Gorgeous poems - profound, exploratory, wild, playful - and completely now' - RUTH PADEL________The brilliant new collection from T.S. Eliot Prize and Costa Award shortlisted poet Helen MortLet me kneelbefore the sky and let me be humble, untidy,let me be decorated.Here are women's bodies. Hungry adolescent bodies, fluctuating pregnant bodies, ailing aging bodies. Here are bodies as products to be digitized and consumed. Here is the body in nature, changing and growing stronger. Here are tattooed women through history, ink unfurling across their skin.The Illustrated Woman is a tender and incisive collection about what it means to live in a female body - from the joys and struggles of new motherhood to the trauma of deepfakes. Amidst the landscapes of the Peak District and the glaciers of Greenland, Helen Mort's remarkable poems transfix the reader in a celebration of beauty and resilience.'These are poems that will leave their indelible mark' - ANDREW MCMILLAN

'Euripides said "better a serpent than a stepmother." For a moment, you like the idea of being a single line, winding around everything you touch. A vine.''Brave, graceful and absolutely vital' SARAH HALL, author of Helm'Utterly remarkable' CAROLINE BIRD, author of The Air YearWhen a new relationship casts her in the unforeseen role of stepmother to her partner’s two children, Helen Mort embarks on a personal quest to understand this most maligned of female archetypes. Alongside her own journey, she revisits stepmothers in fairytale, film and our culture’s darkest corners of fantasy.Turning a bold and inventive gaze on this neglected dimension of maternal experience, these are candid dispatches from the shifting terrain of the modern family. As playful as it is moving, STEPMOTHER radiates Mort’s signature empathetic warmth, but with the bite of truth.Mort interleaves ravishing fragments of lyric essay with gothic flights into verse that draw us deep into the woods of upon-a-time, and back, changed, into the now. Groundbreaking and transformative, tender and uncompromising, STEPMOTHER has much to teach us about female power and the fear it still provokes, our openness to change, and the surprising shapes love can take.'I was enchanted by her blend of generous lyric and furious cultural critique. A spell for seeing differently’ CLARE POLLARD, author of THE MODERN FAIRIES

Ink Tales reinvigorates fairy tales and myths from around the world, breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes throughout. Illustrated by Inkquisitive (Amandeep Singh) in his vibrant signature Indian inks, each story is accessible and visually inspiring. Travel across oceans and discover the vengeful wrath of a River God in Kayo Chingonyi's West African tale. Soar too close to the sun with Inua Ellam's timely story of a young refugee girl. Fly to a mysterious castle inhabited by a cursed prince with Helen Mort's retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Uncover the truth of #Bluebeard with Joelle Taylor's modernised fairy tale. Look to the constellations with Will Harris' futuristic Greek tragedy, and never, ever answer to your name in Malika Booker's Trinidadian recreation of the Dwen. Bedtime Stories for the End of the World is produced in partnership with the ground-breaking poetry podcast of the same name. The six featured poets draw on their own experience, adding a new dimension to an existing tale. 'Bedtime Stories for the End of the World' is a spoken word and poetry podcast about the power of myth and the politics of storytelling. The podcast asks some of the UK's top poets to re-imagine their favourite myths, fairy tales and legends - the stories they want to keep and protect for the future. It also involves an annual live event, creating a tangible and accessible experience for existing and new audiences. Reimagined tales include Icarus, the legend of the Zambezi River God, East of the Sun West of the Moon, Bluebeard, Philoctetes and the Trinidadian folklore figure 'douen'.

In a fast-paced world, The Wild Verses invites you to slow down, reflect and to seek solace through poetry and nature.From consoling words of hope and healing to meditations on love and friendship, this beautiful collection has a poem for every feeling. Accompanied by emotive illustrations of animals in the wild, this is a poetry collection to be returned to again and again.The perfect gift book for fans of Donna Ashworth and Charlie Mackesy.

‘We live in a world populated by dog lovers, where many of us regard them as members of the family. We are fascinated by them: either anthropomorphising our pets or obsessing about the ways they differ from us. And mountains – theatres of risk, drama and heroism – provide the perfect stage for us to enact our canine fascination in all its pathos and poetry. In short, the hills bring into focus just how much we love being with dogs.’Dogs specialise in getting on with humans, and tales of faithful hounds in hostile environments form part of our cultural history. Award-winning writer Helen Mort sets out to understand the singular relationship between dogs, mountains and the people who love them. Along the way, she meets search and rescue dogs, interviews climbers and spends time on the hills with hounds. The book is also a personal memoir, telling the author’s own story of falling in love with a whippet called Bell during a transformative year in the Lake District.Never Leave the Dog Behind is a compelling account of mountain adventures and misadventures, and captures the unbridled joy of heading to the hills with a four-legged friend.

Pioneer, activist, environmentalist, poet. Ethel Haythornthwaite is virtually unknown, even in her home town of Sheffield – the UK’s outdoor city – yet her tireless campaigning led to the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and the creation of the Peak District National Park, protecting a wild and varied landscape so many have fallen in love with. Founder of a local society to protect rural scenery in 1924, she went on to join the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) and become its wartime director. Saviour of the beautiful Longshaw estate, her achievements also include establishing the first green belt in the UK.In Ethel, award-winning author Helen Mort explores the life of this countryside revolutionary who has been overlooked by history. Born into wealth yet frugal, ever restless but infinitely patient, widowed at twenty-two, independent and thoroughly ahead of her time, Ethel Haythornthwaite helped save the British countryside at a time when simply to be a woman was challenge enough.Having been given unrestricted access to Ethel’s archive, including hundreds of meticulously written letters, in Ethel, Helen Mort has written letters to Ethel’s memory and a paean to her legacy. The beauty and accessibility of the British countryside is the result of passionate campaigning during the inter- and post-war years by groundbreaking figures such as Ethel Haythornthwaite.

Lake District Trail Running is a comprehensive guide to off-road running in the Lake District National Park. With 20 runs, from 5.1km to 17km in length, this book is suitable for runners of all abilities.The fells and valleys of the Lakes are a playground for the adventurous runner – this is the home of many classic fell races, and of course the legendary Bob Graham Round. In this book, author Helen Mort has collected together many of her favourite Lakeland runs, from low-lying and scenic lakeside cruises, to steep mountain climbs and remote and wild enchainments. Discover Grasmere, pick your way along the Haystacks ridge, explore Grisedale or run around Lakeland icons, such as Buttermere and Ennerdale Water. More experienced runners can challenge themselves on bigger and longer excursions to Fairfield and above Troutbeck.Features clear and easy-to-use Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps, easy-to-follow directions, details of distance and timings, refreshment stops and local knowledge, and a detailed appendix.

Winner: Mountain Literature (Non Fiction) The Jon Whyte Award, Banff Mountain Book Competition 2019Waymaking is an anthology of prose, poetry and artwork by women who are inspired by wild places, adventure and landscape.Published in 1961, Gwen Moffat’s Space Below My Feet tells the story of a woman who shirked the conventions of society and chose to live a life in the mountains. Some years later in 1977, Nan Shepherd published The Living Mountain, her prose bringing each contour of the Cairngorm mountains to life. These pioneering women set a precedent for a way of writing about wilderness that isn’t about conquering landscapes, reaching higher, harder or faster, but instead about living and breathing alongside them, becoming part of a larger adventure.The artists in this inspired collection continue Gwen and Nan’s legacies, redressing the balance of gender in outdoor adventure literature. Their creativity urges us to stop and engage our senses: the smell of rain-soaked heather, wind resonating through a col, the touch of cool rock against skin, and most importantly a taste of restoring mind, body and spirit to a former equanimity.With contributions from adventurers including Alpinist magazine editor Katie Ives, multi-award-winning author Bernadette McDonald, adventurers Sarah Outen and Anna McNuff, renowned filmmaker Jen Randall and many more, Waymaking is an inspiring and pivotal work published in an era when wilderness conservation and gender equality are at the fore.

'The hills bring into focus just how much we love being with dogs.' In Never Leave the Dog Behind, award-winning writer Helen Mort explores the relationship between dogs, mountains and the people who love them. She meets search and rescue dogs, interviews climbers, and tells her own transformative story of falling in love with a whippet named Bell.