Granta stops publishing short story award winners over AI controversy

Literary magazine will no longer engage in ‘external publishing partnerships’ after Commonwealth prize furore The prominent literary magazine Granta will no longer publish the winning entries of the annual Commonwealth short story prize after one of this year’s winners drew widespread accusations of AI use. The magazine said it would no longer be involved in “external publishing partnerships” in which it had no editorial control. In a statement to the Guardian, Granta said: “The 2026 selection of the regional winners of the Commonwealth prize caused a great deal of controversy, based on the speculation that one or more of the stories may have been at least partially AI-generated, accusations that were strongly rejected by the authors. “For the sake of our own editorial integrity, the Granta Trust board has now taken the decision that we will no longer engage in external publishing partnerships. We will keep the Commonwealth prize shortlisted stories on our website in the public interest, and wish our former partner, the Commonwealth Foundation, all the best in its work.” This year’s winning story from the Caribbean region, The Serpent in the Grove by Jamir Nazir, began to draw atte