Amaan Hyder wins The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2024
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The judges of The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2024 award first place to Amaan Hyder for his story, ‘Reasons for not Speaking’.
Submissions were read anonymously by the panel of judges: Brandon Taylor (author of The Late Americans and Real Life), Benjamin Markovits (author of Either Side of Winter and You Don’t Have To Live Like This) and Naomi Wood (author of The Godless Boys and The Hiding Game).
Winner Amaan Hyder is the author of the poetry collections At Hajj and Self-Portrait With Family. His poem ‘duas’ won a Clore Prize in 2019, and his short story ‘Postpositions’ was shortlisted in the 4thWrite Short Story Prize 2021. His poetry has appeared in a range of publications including The Guardian, Poetry Review and Poetry London.
He is also a Ledbury Poetry Critic and has reviewed for the TLS and Poetry Birmingham. He is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the English Department at Royal Holloway, University of London.
‘In ‘Reasons for Not Speaking’ I wanted to depict a fraught engagement with family, desire and a landmark gay novel,’ Amaan says. ‘I am immensely grateful to The London Magazine and to the judges for selecting the story – the news is still sinking in. I would like to congratulate the other winners, whose stories I’m really looking forward to reading.’
One of our judges, Benjamin Markovits, had the following to say on the winning stories:
A deeply impressive range of stories, both in style and subject: from the deadpan subtlety of ‘Still Life’ – about the quiet ways we measure ourselves against strangers we don’t know, to the dreamy drifty lyricism of ‘Nadia’, who finds an old college love affair half-heartedly rekindled at a friend’s wedding, to the nuanced ambivalences and self-doubts we have to muddle through in the age of identity, in the brilliant winner, ‘Reasons for Not Speaking’. Together they offer a picture of contemporary life in miniature.
As well as receiving prizes of £500, £300 and £200 respectively, the winners are to be published in the upcoming December / January 2025 issue of The London Magazine. To ensure you get a copy before it sells out, subscribe here.
The full list of winners include:
First Place: ‘Reasons for not Speaking’ by Amaan Hyder
Second Place: ‘Still Life with Neighbours’ by Eddie Creamer
‘I’m really delighted that ‘Still Life with Neighbours’ has been chosen as one of the prize winners. I first wrote a draft of this story more than three years ago, and have been struggling to get it right ever since. I’m glad now that I didn’t give up on it. A huge thank you to the judges, and the whole team at The London Magazine.’
Eddie Creamer is a writer and part-time lawyer living in London. A graduate of the Goldsmiths MA in Creative and Life Writing, his work has appeared in various online magazines, including Queerlings, The Interpreter’s House and The Fruitslice. He writes stories and flash fiction, mostly about queer Londoners, and is currently editing his first novel, Now You’re Flying, an intergenerational campus novel about a mother and son.
Third Place: ‘Nadia’ by Lucy Thynne
‘I feel delighted and lucky to have this story recognised, particularly as an admirer of the judges’ work and fiction previously published by this magazine. I’m looking forward to reading the other stories on the shortlist.’
Lucy Thynne works for the Arts desk at The Telegraph.
The full shortlist is as follows:
‘My Secession’ by JL Bogenschneider, ‘Still Life with Neighbours’ by Eddie Creamer, ‘Reasons for not Speaking’ by Amaan Hyder, ‘Texans in Texaco’ by Caleb Leow, ‘Nadia’ by Lucy Thynne and ‘Bugbrooke Interlude’ by Benjamin Wal.
We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition and our judges. We received an unprecedentedly high number of submissions and, as judge Naomi Wood said, ‘the stories were of such high quality, they were all a pleasure to read’.
To discover more content exclusive to our print and digital editions, subscribe here to receive a copy of The London Magazine to your door every two months, while also enjoying full access to our extensive digital archive of essays, literary journalism, fiction and poetry.
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