Being Dad: Short Stories about Fatherhood – edited by Dan Coxon

The Last Word Review

 Being Dad published by Tangent Books and edited by Dan Coxon is an anthology of short stories of fatherhood from fifteen contemporary writers. Every single story is presented with such poignancy that any father will read and find themselves lost in the words of being just that a father.

The sheer beauty of this fabulous book is that there are no answers to the many questions posed by fatherhood but more the case of them sharing the everyday moments of everything that being a father is, the joy, the love and along the journey the pain. But these stories also pose the questions that every father will recognise it is a sheer joy to read. Recently Being Dad won the Best Anthology Prize at the Saboteur Awards 2016.

Writers who have written short stories are Toby Litt, Courttia Newland, Dan Powell, Nikesh Shukla and Nicholas Royale with many more adding their own personal take on what a father means to them.

As with each of the stories each one is unique and a personal perspective of being a father and what it means to that writer. The quality of the writing from each is outstanding. I guess the one thing that binds us all is that we all have a father sometimes though the father is missing and this is spoken about in Being Dad words that will resonate with some readers. The one thing that does come through the near 200 pages is Being Dad is that moment from birth the nappies the feeding during the nights the teenage years and tantrums that go along with this and then there is inevitable arguments and rows, there is love and then there is the talk of loss and also of death. Along the way there is great humour as there should be about Being Dad and that is the strength of this beautiful book is the words that shine through are poetry about what it means to be a father.

If you are a short story aficionado you will rejoice at this wonderful book that should hailed as a success by everyone involved and I just hope that one day we will see a book called ‘Being Mum.’ I urge you to read this and not be affected by it. Being Dad is a joy to read.

Thank you to Dan Coxon for a review copy of Being Dad

Being Dad: Short Stories About Fatherhood edited by Dan Coxon and published by Tangent Books is available to but through Amazon and to order through all good bookshops.