Ben Fergusson

Memberships

• Society of Authors
• National Association of Writers in Education
• Historical Writers' Association
• PEN Berlin

Research Interests

• Short fiction
• The novel
• Historical fiction
• Queer writing
• Creative non-fiction
• Literary translation
• Writing process and theory

Books

Fergusson, B (2022) Tales from the Fatherland, Little, Brown

Fergusson, B (2019) An Honest Man, Little, Brown

Fergusson, B (2017) The Other Hoffmann Sister, Little, Brown

Fergusson, B (2014) The Spring of Kasper Meier, Little, Brown

Short Stories

Fergusson, B (2022) 'Gall', Ploughshares

Fergusson, B (2022) 'Nana', Narrative

Fergusson, B (2021) '20 Things that Women Do...', Funicular

Fergusson, B (2020) 'The Plums', The Georgia Review

Fergusson, B (2020) 'A Navigable River', Seán O'Faoláin International Short Story Award

Fergusson, B (2020) 'Behavioural Competencies', 3:AM Magazine

Fergusson, B (2018) 'Geraldine', Bridport Prize 2018 Shortlist

Fergusson, B (2012) 'The Places You'll Go, The People You'll Meet', Mr. Beller's Neighbourhood

Fergusson, B (2010) 'Berlin', Bridport Prize 2010 Shortlist

Fergusson, B (2010) 'Ewan without Ruby', Litro

Fergusson, B (2009) '1969', Notes from the Underground

Fergusson, B (2009) 'The Luck of Finding a Stationary Car', Chroma

Fergusson, B (2009) 'Mars's Children', FuseLit

Journals and Essays

Fergusson, B (2022) 'What's the Best Way to Parent Adopted Children?', BBC Future

Fergusson, B (2022) 'A Baby Needed a Family', The Observer

Fergusson, B (2020) 'Adventures in the Motherland', The Guardian

Fergusson, B (2020) 'Did West Berlin Smell Different from East Berlin?', The Author

Fergusson, B (2020) 'Brief an einen jungen, englischsprachigen Autor historischer Romane', Akzente

Fergusson, B (2019) 'Sex and Death in West Berlin', Metro

Fergusson, B (2018) 'Peter Piller', Frieze

Fergusson, B (2018) 'Diamonds in the Rough', World of Interiors

Fergusson, B (2018) 'Jean-Pascal Flavien', World of Interiors

Fergusson, B (2017) 'Hiwa K: Digging Upwards', Frieze

Fergusson, B (2017) 'Candice Breitz', Frieze

Fergusson, B (2017) 'Second-Hand Stories', World of Interiors

Fergusson, B (2016) 'Eine Feier des Anderen', Sprache im technischen Zeitalter

Translations

Schreiber, D (2023), Alone, Reaktion Books

Sulzer, AC (2020), A Beautiful View, Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger

Ortheil, H-J (2020), 'How I Could Talk about Joseph Haydn...', Joseph Haydn Stiftung, Basel

Kehlmann, D (2018), 'His Prince and He', Joseph Haydn Stiftung, Basel

Schröder, G (2017), 'The Authentic Image of the Rhine' in Andreas Gursky, Hayward Publishing

Plamper, P (2017), Subservient Spirits, WDR/Ruhrtriennale

Sulzer, AC (2016), Anna's Mask, Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland

Gesine Bauer, E, and Singer, L (2016), 'String Quartett', Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger

Han, B-C (2016), 'Abwesen: On the Culture and Philosophy of the Far East', Sydney Biennale Catalogue 2016

Steinweg, M (2016), 'Translating Reality', Sydney Biennale Catalogue 2016

Merkel, K (2011), Stones like Trees, Lars Müller, Zurich

Pfrunder, P (2011), Swarm, Lars Müller, Zurich

Wagner, A. (2010), 'Mint Green', Chroma: A Queer Literary Journal, London

Awards and Shortlists for Fiction

Betty Trask Prize 2015

HWA Debut Crown 2015

Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2015 (shortlist)

Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2015 (longlist)

Awards and Shortlists for Short Fiction

BBC National Short Story Award 2023 (longlist)​

Seán O'Faoláin International Short Story Award 2020

BBC National Short Story Award 2020 (longlist)

BBC National Short Story Award 2019 (longlist)

Bridport Short Fiction Prize 2018 (shortlist)

Bridport Short Fiction Prize 2010 (shortlist)

Chroma Short Fiction Award 2008 (runner-up)

Awards for Translation

Stephen Spender Prize 2020 for poetry in translation

Juries

Berlin Writing Prize 2022

HWA Debut Crown 2018 (chair)

HWA Debut Crown 2017

IGGY and Litro Writing Prize 2015​

I am currently putting the finishing touches to a new novel entitled Finch. Set in Liverpool in the 19th century, it follows two petty criminals who attempt to pass themselves as the missing siblings of the richest man in the city. The novel continues my exploration of ideas around truth and authenticity, revelation and queer sexuality that were at the centre of my last novel, An Honest Man (2019). I am also developing a series of journal articles that look at these same themes critically, making the case for a sub-genre of fiction called the queer historical thriller, which has its roots in the early novels of Sarah Waters and Jake Arnott.

I have been publishing a series of short stories in a range of international journals, most recently Ploughshares and Narrative, that explore the lives of married gay men. The stories focus on a range of gay characters that have been largely absent from previous literatures, from men in lavender marriages, to gay widowers, gay fathers and their parents-in-law. I plan to bring these stories together in a collection provisionally entitled Married Men.

My most recent literary translation project, was my translation of Daniel Schreiber's Alone (2023). The book-length essay was a bestseller in Germany, exploring ideas of aloneness and loneliness in the context of the pandemic, queerness and society's obsession with romance over friendship.

I am the author of the novels The Spring of Kasper Meier (2014), The Other Hoffmann Sister (2017) and An Honest Man (2019). My debut novel won the 2015 Betty Trask Prize, the HWA Debut Crown and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. In 2022, I published my first book of non-fiction, Tales from the Fatherland, an exploration of fatherhood and same-sex parenting. My short fiction has been published in a range of journals internationally. I am also a literary translator from German, and in 2020 won a Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation.

I teach across the undergraduate and postgraduate Creative Writing programmes at Cardiff Met. I have a BA in English Literature from Warwick University, and an MA in Modern Languages from the University of Bristol, and am about to complete my PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia.

You can find out more about my writing at www.benfergusson.com.