Chris Torrance (born 1941) is a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival.
Born in Edinburgh, Torrance grew up in London and moved to rural Wales in 1970. He taught creative writing at Cardiff University for a number of years. He performs literary cabaret with the poetry and music group Poetheat, which he co-founded in 1985 with composer Chris Vine and which is now called Heat Poets.
His work shows the influence of the Beats, especially Gary Snyder and William Burroughs and an interest in the matter and monuments of ancient Britain, including such 'magical' or religious phenomena as ley lines. He has also expressed an admiration for the writings of Charles Olson and David Jones.
Torrance has featured in a number of key Revival anthologies, including Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain (1969), Conductors of Chaos (1996) and Other: British and Irish Poetry since 1970 (1999). His major work is the ongoing Magic Door sequence, of which seven books have been published to date.
Torrance, Chris (1968), Green orange purple red, and other poems, London, Ferry Press; cover drawing by David Jenkins, ISBN 978-0-900851-01-8 Torrance, Chris (1969), Aries under Saturn and beyond, London, Ferry Press, ISBN 978-0-900851-22-3 Torrance, Chris; Torrance, Val (1973) Acrospirical Meanderings in a Tongue of the Time, London, Albion Village PressTorrance, Chris; Torrance, Val (1975), The magic door : a cycle. Book 1, London, Albion Village Press, OCLC 60053688 Torrance, Chris (1975), Mirages : a chronicle - September 1975, Neath Abbey, OCLC 12336536 Torrance, Chris; Torrance, Val (1976), The Florentine sonnets, Neath, Cwm Nedd Press, OCLC 15127215 Citrinas (The Magic Door, Book 2) (1977), London, Albion Village PressThe Rainbringer (1977), Newcastle upon Tyne, Pig Press; 2nd revised edition, 1978. ISBN 0-903997-38-XHeat Sonnets (1979), Newcastle upon Tyne, Pig Press. ISBN 0-903977-42-7The diary of Palug's Cat (The Magic Door, Book 3) (1980), Newcastle upon Tyne, Galloping Dog Press', ISBN 0-904837-24-6; also Swansea, Stone Lantern Audiobook on tape oclc=20672978The Cloud Book, Neath, Cwm Nedd Press, 1980, OCLC 9107523 The Book of Brychan (The Magic Door, Book 4) (1982), Newcastle upon Tyne, Galloping Dog Press; illustrations and cover design by Robin CampbellCylinder Fragments of the Twentieth Century (1982), Neath, Cwm Nedd Press, ISBN 978-0-906244-12-8The Slim Book/Wet Pulp (The Magic Door, Book. 5) (1986), Swansea, Stone Lantern PressSoutherly Vector/The Book Of Heat - Further Books of the Magic Door (1996), Neath, Cwm Nedd Press, ISBN 0-906244-27-7The Book of Heat CD, Chris Torrance-Words, Chris Vine-Music(1998), Innerstar; rerelease 2003Wobbly Chair (2003), Dinas Powys, Canna PressFrinite CD, Chris Torrance-Words, Chris Vine-Music (2004) Dinas Powys, Canna PressHare Pie, card designed by Deidre Farrell (2007), signed by artist and author, Dinas Powys, Canna PressPath(The Magic Door, Book 6) (Heaventree Press, 2008)