Hogan wins Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize

Edward Hogan has won the 2020/21 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize for his submission "Single Sit".

He will receive a cash prize of £2,000.

Hogan was joined by Nora Thurkle ("Inaudible Frequencies") and Lauren Van Schaik ("Kitchen With An Island") on the shortlist, who will both receive £500. All longlisted authors will be awarded £50 of bookshop vouchers, plus a four-book subscription to Galley Beggar Press.

Now in its sixth year, the prize received over 1,400 entries from all over the world, including Nigeria, the US, New Zealand, Iran, India, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain. Sam Jordison, co-director of Galley Beggar Press, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to our wonderful judges Catherine Taylor, Sam Fisher and Eley Williams for their diligent reading and for making the prize this year such a thoroughly enjoyable process.”

Fellow Press co-director and judge Eloise Millar also thanked the writers who submitted, and said the task was "truly difficult - but also a profoundly rewarding and inspiring".

She added: "All of the longlisted and shortlisted stories are available on the site - and this year, almost 6,000 readers have logged in to enjoy them. That feels like an extraordinary number, and a very special thing to be able to offer our writers on the prize list (many of them just starting out). It also says something about the quality of work that people have come to expect from the prize, which is continually inspiring.”

Novelist and prize judge Eley Williams described Hogan's winning story as "a masterclass in both characterisation and ways in which the short story form can present negotiations of psychological, hierarchical and geographical space with verve and tenacity. The simple becomes complex, the absurd becomes intimate - a wry, tender, provocative work.”

Taylor added: “It has been sheer joy to have shared lively and invigorating discussions around such an impressive set of short stories. In Edward Hogan’s 'Single Sit'- which, like several others, stood out from the beginning - the narrative arc is never forced and the story works beautifully and unexpectedly on many levels, with not a word wasted. A real accomplishment.”

Hogan is the author of several novels including The Electric, Blackmoor, and The Hunger Trace. His recent short stories have also been longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, and shortlisted for the V S Pritchett Prize and the Manchester Fiction Prize.

The previous winners of the prize are include Isha Karki, Anna Wood, C S Mee, Yelena Moskovich and Riona Judge McCormack. Hogan is the first male winner, and his story is available to read online.

The prize will reopen for entries in June. It costs £10 to enter, although Galley Beggar Press also provide 150 free entries for writers enduring financial hardship.