Urmas Vadi publishes new short-story collection

Estonian writer Urmas Vadi has published a new short-story collection, Love’s Tooth Marks, the first book he has released since last year’s collection of plays, Writing This Won’t Clear the Table, ERR reports.

Published by Kolm Tarka, the collection portrays people in both their beauty and pain. Its characters may feel as if they have wings and are constantly in love, but they can also reveal their worst side and become deeply personal or even repulsive. Even after the love of one’s life has walked out the door and winter is approaching, the hope remains that someone will catch us and that there is a place with soft corners where everyone is welcome.

While the mother figure played an important role in Vadi’s novel The Other Side of the Moon, the writer says the father figure is central to Love’s Tooth Marks.

“Lately, I feel that making jokes does not interest me at all. I am inspired by situations where hot and cold air masses meet, where something is frightening and funny at the same time. Both sides matter, rather than simply making jokes,” Vadi said in an interview with Vikerraadio radio.

“The great thing about art is empathy: you can share in someone’s experience, recognise yourself and perhaps also find comfort,” he added.

Vadi’s previous works include the short-story collections A Soul by the Roadside, On the Meaninglessness of Life and How We All Walk in Such a Line, as well as the novels Letters to Aunt Anne, Back to Estonia, Neverland, The Ballet Master and The Other Side of the Moon. He has also written numerous plays, including One Hundred Grams of Sky Blue, What Causes Stripes and Kindergarten.

The collection was edited by Triinu Tamm, proofread by Leena Tomasberg and designed by Maris Kaskmann.