A creative writing lecturer has won the first National Short Story Prize, aimed at promoting the art of short stories, taking home a cheque for �25,000. James Lasdun, a British author who relocated to New York, picked up the award for An Anxious Man.
He beat authors Rana Dasgupta, Michel Faber, Rose Tremain and William Trevor.
The prize is funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, and was supported by BBC Radio 4 and Prospect magazine.
Lasdun, who has taught at Princeton, Columbia and New York universities, has published two collections of short stories as well as two full-length novels.
Resonance
Novelist Michel Faber, who has made his home in Scotland, took the runner-up prize for The Safehouse.
Francine Stock, who chaired the judging panel, said: "The selection process for the inaugural National Short Story Prize was an intriguing, complicated and agonising business.
"What we kept coming back to was the visceral resonance of the winning story.
"We chose the story that lingered most but both the winner and the runner-up extended the possibilities of what you can do with the short story."
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