Academic’s joy at reaching the finals in the BBC National Short Story Award

Posted on 26 September 2025 • Arts, Arts and social sciences

Open University academic Dr Edward Hogan is riding high after learning he is one of five finalists in the BBC National Short Story Award.

The Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the OU was overjoyed when he learned that his story, ‘Little Green Man’ was shortlisted.

His warm, humorous, yet tender tale is about Carrie, a heartbroken gardener who forms an unlikely partnership with the temporary spare pair of hands in the shape of teenage dad Ryan.

The unlikely duo, both reluctant to be in each other’s company, spend the day working on Derby’s green open spaces and surprise themselves by developing a connection.

Fictional story inspired by summer job

Whilst the story is fictional, Derby-born Edward said it was inspired by a summer working for Derby City Council’s parks and gardens: “I loved that job and really enjoyed working with the people and realised how incredibly hard they work.”

The story was aired recently on BBC Sounds and is available there for the next 12 months, along with the other four finalists’ stories with the winner set to gain a prize of £15,000.

Edward said:

“I feel very fortunate to be selected. It’s such an honour. Short fiction is my preferred form, and I’ve really loved reading the other shortlisted stories.”

As the author of five novels, he is no stranger to accolades. His 2008 book ‘Blackmoor’ won the Desmond Elliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award.

And his short story, ‘Late Velvet’, won the Dinesh Allirajah Prize in 2025, and ‘Single Sit’ won the Galley Beggar Press Prize and was published in the Best British Short Stories series.

It is a requirement of the BBC National Short Story Award that entrants have already had work published in the UK.

It was set up 20 years ago to celebrate the art of short-story writing and to find the very best of the genre in a way that paralleled the other major UK literary awards from the Booker to the Forward Prize, all of which require work to be published.

Edward was recently interviewed on the BBC’s Front Row and gave one tip that has proved truly transformational for him that he gleaned from Irish writer Claire Keegan in a teaching workshop about short-story writing.

“She was really stern with us about making sure that the first paragraph is properly done and that means who the story is about, where it is set and when it’s happening and no excuses. I think about that lesson every day and it kind of takes the pressure off as well.

“You think to yourself, when you open a short story, you’ve got so few words you want it to be explosive, you want it to be flashy, but it doesn’t have to be. It just has to get your reader into the story.”

The winner will be announced on 30 September.