Totnes author Tom Vowler has won the Royal Society of Literature VS Pritchett Short Story Prize 2024 for his work ‘Voyagers’.

The for the best unpublished short story of the year was founded by the RSL at the beginning of the new millennium to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short-story writer of the 20th century, and to preserve a tradition encompassing Pritchett’s warmth of feeling and mastery of narrative.

Tom said “I’m thrilled to win such a prestigious prize.

“‘Voyagers’ features two female astrophysicists on a psychedelic journey through love, illness and the universe. The prize had more than 1,000 entries, and Tom received the first prize of £1,000 and publication in Prospect Magazine.

“The judges called it “beautifully crafted, a sublime mix of romantic tension & studies of the cosmos.”

Judge Fred D’Aguiar described it as a story ‘with real intrigue and knowingness that makes compelling reading...It’s the erotics of science; desire mediated through a quest for knowledge; sex between two kindred souls as a metaphor for finding their bearings as people on a planet in the cosmos.’

#Tom is an award-winning novelist and short story writer.

His debut collection of stories called ‘The Method’ won both the Scott Prize and the Edge Readers’Prize.

His novels have received critical acclaim.

The VS Pritchett Short Story Prize was presented on February 22 in London.