The Stinging Fly Podcast

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Dean Fee and Emily Cooper to discuss their work as writers and editors of The Pig's Back. Read and discussed on the podcast are Danielle McLaughlin’s short story, 'Night of the Silver Fox’ originally published in Issue 23, Volume 2 of The Stinging Fly, and Mathew Sweeney's poem, 'Donegal', originally published in Issue 37, Volume 2 of The Stinging Fly.

Dean Fee is a writer from Cavan. His short fiction and non-fiction has been published in The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Banshee and The Tangerine. He has received two Literature Bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland. He was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Foundation Award in 2021 and was editor-in-residence at the Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny, in 2022. He is represented by Zoë Waldie at RCW and is the managing editor of The Pig’s Back literary journal.

Emily Cooper is a poet and writer based in Donegal. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Banshee, Winter Papers, London Magazine and others. She was a 2019 recipient of the Next Generation Award and has been awarded three Literature Bursaries by the Arts Council of Ireland. Her poetry collection Glass was published by Makina Books in 2021 and The Conversation, a collaborative collection written with Jo Burns will be published this year by Doire Press. She is represented by Harriet Moore at David Higham Associates and an editor for The Pig’s Back literary journal.

Danielle McLaughlin is the author of the short-story collection, Dinosaurs on Other Planets, and the novel, The Art of Falling, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Dublin Literary Award. She has been Writer in Residence at University College Cork and Visiting Writer Fellow at the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College, Dublin. She has also designed and delivered workshops in Creative Writing for various organisations and festivals and currently mentors a number of emerging writers.

Matthew Sweeney (1952-2018) was born in Lifford, County Donegal. His poetry collections include A Dream of Maps (1981), A Round House (1983), The Lame Waltzer (1985), Blue Shoes (1989), Cacti (1992), The Bridal Suite (1997), A Smell of Fish (2000), Selected Poems (2002), Sanctuary (2004), Black Moon (2007), The Night Post: A Selection (Salt, 2010), Horse Music (2013), Inquisition Lane (2015), My Life as a Painter (2018), King of a Rainy Country (2018), and Shadow of the Owl (2020). His work has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and won the inaugural Pigott Poetry Prize. He was a member of Aosdána.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was published by Bloomsbury in 2023.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Claire-Louise Bennett to read and discuss Lucy Sweeney Byrne’s short story, ‘To Cure a Body’ originally published in Issue 35, Volume 2, a special Fear & Fantasy issue, guested edited by Mia Gallagher. You can access the story here.

Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and studied literature and drama at the University of Roehampton, before moving to Ireland where she worked in and studied theatre for several years. In 2013 she was awarded the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize and went on to complete her debut book, Pond, which was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2016. Checkout 19 was published by Jonathan Cape in 2021 and was part of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2022 Selection. Her fiction and essays have appeared in a number of publications including The White Review, The Stinging Fly, gorse, Harper’s Magazine, Vogue Italia, Music & Literature, and The New York Times magazine. She also writes about art and is a frequent contributor to frieze. In addition she has written for Tate etc., and Artforum, and a number of international exhibition catalogues. In 2016 she was writer-in-residence at Temple Bar Gallery & Studio. In 2020, Milan-based art publisher Juxta Press published ‘Fish Out Of Water’, an essay Claire-Louise wrote in response to a self-portrait painting by Dorothea Tanning.

Lucy Sweeney Byrne is the author of Paris Syndrome, a short story collection published by Banshee Press, that was met with critical acclaim and shortlisted for numerous awards, including The Edge Hill Prize. Her forthcoming collection, Let’s Dance, is due for publication in the autumn. Lucy’s short fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Banshee, Southword, AGNI, Litro, Grist, 3:AM magazine, and other literary outlets. She also writes book reviews for The Irish Times. Lucy’s writing has been made possible by The Arts Council of Ireland.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was published by Bloomsbury in 2023.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Sheena Patel to read and discuss Oisín Fagan’s short story, ‘Triangle’ originally published in Issue 39, Volume 2 of The Stinging Fly. You can access the story here.

Sheena Patel is a writer and assistant director for the film and TV industry. She is part of the 4 Brown Girls Who Write collective, and her debut novel, I’m a Fan, won the Discover Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2023, has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and was shortlisted for both the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Jhalak Prize. It was Foyles Fiction Book of the Year 2022 and an Observer Best Debut Novel of 2022.

Oisín Fagan was born in 1991 and grew up in County Meath. His collection of stories Hostages was published in 2016, and in 2019 his novel Nobber came out with JM Originals. It was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the Butler Literary Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, was a Waterstone’s book of the Month, and was named as one of the books of the year by The Guardian and The Daily Mail. 

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Jan Carson to read and discuss Sheila Armstrong’s short story, 'Harlow'. Originally published on The Stinging Fly website in 2021, 'Harlow' is and available to read here.

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 followed by a short-story collection, Children's Children (2016), and two Postcard Stories anthologies. Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. The Raptures (2022) was shortlisted for the An Post Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She won the Harper's Bazaar short-story competition and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, the An Post Irish Short Story of the Year, and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. Jan’s writing has been widely translated. Her short story collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses is forthcoming in Spring 2024. Jan is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Sheila Armstrong is a writer and editor from the north-west of Ireland. She is the author of two books: How To Gut A Fish (2022), a collection of short stories, and Falling Animals (2023), her debut novel. Her writing has been listed for the Society of Authors Awards, the Kate O’Brien Award, the Irish Book Awards, and the Edge Hill Prize. She is an Arts Council Next Generation Artist.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Colin Barrett to read and discuss David McGrath’s short story, ‘The Untameable Donkey’, originally published in our All New Writers issue, Winter 2022/23.

Colin Barrett grew up in County Mayo. His stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper’s and the New Yorker. His first book, the short story collection Young Skins, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His second collection, Homesickness, made the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year and was a Book of the Year in Oprah Daily and the Irish Times. His first novel, Wild Houses, will be published in early 2024.

David McGrath is from Baltinglass. His stories at the moment centre around a fictional pub in rural Ireland, of which ‘The Untameable Donkey’ is a part. He has won the Bryan MacMahon Short Story Competition and the Bare Fiction Prize with them, as well as being placed in several other competitions. He has been awarded a residency in Cill Rialaig Arts Centre in November 2023 to finish his novel, The Crack is Barred, which is also set in the world of the pub.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, publisher and founding editor Declan Meade is joined by poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin who has just been announced as The Stinging Fly’s next poetry editor. Annemarie will take over the role from Cal Doyle in November. Here she talks about her own work as poet and editor, and reads recently published poems by Paula Meehan and Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan.

Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet and editor from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Her publications include Bloodroot (Doire Press, 2017), Town (The Salvage Press, 2018) and The Poison Glen (The Gallery Press, 2021). She is a recipient of the Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award and a co-recipient of The Markievicz Award. Her literary fellowships include awards from Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany and the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando. Annemarie was a 2022-2023 Decades of Centenaries Poet in Residence at the Donegal County Service Archives and she is an active member of the Writers in Irish Prisons Scheme. Annemarie has edited The Stony Thursday Book No. 18 (Winter 2022) and the current issue of Poetry Ireland Review (140).

Paula Meehan’s poem ‘Natal Horoscope’ is one of four of her poems that were included in our poetry issue, Summer 2022. Paula’s latest collection, The Solace of Artemis, will be published by Dedalus Press in November.

Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan’s poem ‘The Knee’ was published in our all new writers issue, Winter 2022-23. More of her work has been published by Dedalus Press, UCD Press, Lifeboat Press, Banshee, Poetry Ireland, and others.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose work from our 25-year archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Kevin Power to read and discuss Eimear Ryan’s short story, ‘Body Clock’, originally published in our Winter 2009/10 issue.

Kevin Power is the author of two novels, Bad Day in Blackrock (2008) and White City (2021), as well as a book of criticism, The Written World (2022). He is the winner of the 2009 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Irish Times, and many other places. He teaches in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin.

Eimear Ryan is the author of a novel, Holding Her Breath (2021), and a memoir, The Grass Ceiling (2023). She is a founder of the literary journal Banshee. She lives in Cork.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Sophie Mackintosh to read and discuss David Hayden’s short story, ‘Leckerdam of the Golden Hand’, originally published in our Summer 2016 issue.

Sophie Mackintosh is the author of three novels: The Water Cure, Blue Ticket and Cursed Bread. Her debut novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018 and won a Betty Trask Award 2019, and Cursed Bread was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023. She has been published in Granta, The White Review and TANK magazine among others, and was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2023. Sophie’s short story ‘Revivalists’ was published in our Summer 2018 issue.

David Hayden was born in Ireland and lives in England. His writing has appeared in numerous magazines including The Stinging Fly, Granta online, Zoetrope All-Story, The Dublin Review, AGNI, The Georgia Review and A Public Space. His first book of stories, Darker With the Lights On, was published by Transit Books and Carcanet Press.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Lucy Caldwell to read and discuss Niamh Prior’s short story, ‘Peter and Jane’.

‘Peter and Jane’ was originally published in July 2021 as part of our online fiction series.

Lucy Caldwell was born in Belfast in 1981. She is the author of four novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and two collections of short stories: Multitudes and Intimacies. She won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2021 for ‘All the People Were Mean and Bad’. Other awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the George Devine Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018 and in 2019 she was the editor of Being Various – New Irish Short Stories.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Darran Anderson to read and discuss Mary O’Donoghue’s short story, ‘During the Russian Blizzard’.

The story first appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of the magazine and was included in Stinging Fly Stories, 2018. It is one of twelve stories included in The Hour After Happy Hour, Mary’s forthcoming short-story collection, which The Stinging Fly Press will publish this summer.

Darran Anderson is an Irish essayist, journalist, and memoirist, and is the author of Imaginary Cities (2015) and Inventory (2020). Over the past decade, he has written on the intersections of culture, politics, urbanism, and technology for a wide variety of publications, including The Atlantic, frieze magazine, The Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement. Shortly after this podcast was recorded, he was one of eight writers worldwide to be awarded Yale University’s Windham-Campbell Prize.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode of the podcast, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer and editor Michael Magee to read and discuss Louise Kennedy’s short story, ‘The End of the World is a Cul de Sac’.

The story first appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of the magazine. It went on to become the title story of Louise’s first collection of stories, which was published by Bloomsbury in 2021. Trespasses, Louise’s first novel, was published by Bloomsbury earlier this year and was awarded novel of the year at the An Post Irish Book Awards.

Michael Magee is the fiction editor of The Tangerine and a graduate of the PhD Creative Writing programme at Queen’s University, Belfast. His writing has appeared in Winter Papers, The Lifeboat and in The 32: An Anthology of Working Class Writing. Close to Home, his first novel, will be published by Hamish Hamilton in April 2023.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, will be published by Bloomsbury in March 2023.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

On this month’s episode of the podcast, host Nicole Flattery is joined by novelist and critic Rachel Connolly, to read and discuss a short story, ‘Rustlers’, by Michael Magee, which first appeared in the Summer 2017 issue of the magazine.

Michael Magee is the fiction editor of The Tangerine and a graduate of the PhD Creative Writing programme at Queen’s University, Belfast. His writing has appeared in Winter Papers, The Lifeboat and in The 32: An Anthology of Working Class Writing. Close to Home, his first novel, will be published by Hamish Hamilton in April 2023.

Rachel Connolly is a writer from Belfast. She has written for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The Guardian, The Baffler, The Financial Times and many other publications. She has also featured as a guest to discuss her work on “This American Life” and several BBC radio programs. Her short story, ‘In The End’ was published in our Summer 2021 issue. Her first novel, Lazy City, will be published by Canongate in 2023.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, will be published by Bloomsbury in March 2023.

On this month’s episode of the podcast, new host Nicole Flattery is joined by novelist and poet Susannah Dickey, to read and discuss a short story, ‘How They Live Now’, by Wes Lee, which first appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of the magazine.

Wes Lee lives in New Zealand. Her work has appeared in a wide array of publications. She has won a number of awards, including The Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award in Galway, and The Short Fiction Writing Prize (University of Plymouth Press).

Susannah Dickey grew up in Derry and now lives in Belfast. She is the author of two novels, Tennis Lessons (2020) and Common Decency (2022) and three poetry pamphlets, I had some very slight concerns (2017), genuine human values (2018) and bloodthirsty for marriage (2020). Her poetry has been published in Ambit, The White Review, Poetry Ireland Review and Magma, amongst others.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, will be published by Bloomsbury in March 2023.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

For our Winter 2021-22 issue, Editor-at-large Thomas Morris invited Marie-Helene Bertino, Rebecca Ivory, Jon McGregor, and Stephen Sexton to each write a short story in a single night: starting at dusk and submitting by dawn.

In this second episode of a two-part series, we are joined by Jon McGregor, who reads and discusses his story ‘Dwell’, which he wrote from start to finish in a single night.

You can listen to the first episode – featuring Marie-Helene Bertino, Rebecca Ivory, and Stephen Sexton – here.

Jon McGregor is the author of five novels and a two story collections; his most recent novel is Lean Fall Stand (4th Estate). He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nottingham, where he edits The Letters Page, a literary journal in letters. He lives in Nottingham.

You can read all the astonishing One Night Stands in our Winter 2021-22 issue.

And you can read Thomas Morris’s introduction to the stories here.

For our Winter 2021-22 issue, Editor-at-large Thomas Morris invited four authors to each write a short story in a single night: starting at dusk and submitting by dawn.

On this month’s episode of the podcast, he is joined by three of those authors – Marie-Helene Bertino, Rebecca Ivory, and Stephen Sexton – who read from their ‘One Night Stands’ and discuss what happens when you stay up all night to write a story.

Marie-Helene Bertino is the author of the novels Parakeet and 2 a.m. at The Cat’s Pajamas, and the story collection Safe as Houses. Her alien opus novel Beautyland is forthcoming from FSG in 2022. She lives in New York.

Rebecca Ivory lives in Dublin and writes short fiction. Her stories have appeared in The Stinging Fly, Banshee, The Tangerine and Fallow Media.

Stephen Sexton is the author of two books of poetry: If All the World and Love Were Young; and most recently Cheryl’s Destinies. He teaches at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Jon McGregor is the fourth author who wrote us a story in a single night. Jon was unfortunately unwell on the evening we recorded the podcast, so couldn’t participate. But happily, he’s on the mend now!

You can read Jon’s story, and all the astonishing One Night Stands, in our Winter 2021-22 issue.

And you can read Thomas Morris’s introduction to the stories here.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

On this month's episode of the podcast, editor Danny Denton is joined by writer John Patrick McHugh, to read and discuss Sean O'Reilly's story 'All Day And All of the Night', which first appeared in our Winter 2011 issue.

John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His fiction has appeared in Winter Papers, The Tangerine, Banshee, Granta and The Stinging Fly. Pure Gold, his debut collection of short stories, was published by New Island in February of this year, and by Fourth Estate in June. He is currently guest editing an issue of Banshee.

Sean O'Reilly was born in Derry in 1969. He has published two collections of short stories, Curfew and Other Stories (2000) and Levitation (2017), and three novels: Love and Sleep (2002), The Swing of Things (2004) and Watermark (2005).

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

On this month's episode of the podcast, editor Danny Denton is joined by novelist Niamh Campbell, to read and discuss Kevin Power's darkly surreal story 'The Dead Hotel', which first appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of the magazine.

Niamh Campbell's debut novel This Happy was published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 2020, and nominated for the An Post Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the John McGahern Book Prize. In 2020 she also won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award for her story 'Love Many'. Her short work can be found in The Dublin Review, 3:AM, Banshee, Tangerine, Five Dials, Granta, and gorse. She has been funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and is 2021 Writer in Residence at University College Dublin. Her second novel We Were Young is forthcoming with Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 2022. She lives and works in Dublin.

Kevin Power's first novel, Bad Day in Blackrock, was published by Lilliput Press in 2008 and filmed as What Richard Did, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, in 2012. His second novel, White City, was published earlier this year by Scribner. He won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2009 and the Hennessy XO Award for Emerging Fiction, also in 2009. Kevin is currently Assistant Professor of Literary Practice in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin, and he holds a PhD in American Literature from University College Dublin. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Irish Times, The Dublin Review, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

On this month's episode of The Stinging Fly Podcast, Declan Meade is joined by Nuala O'Connor, to read 'Sing, Dance, Earn Your Keep', an essay by Nicole Flattery first published in the Winter 2015 issue of the magazine.

Nuala O'Connor is a writer of novels, short fiction, poetry, and essays. She also publishes under the name Nuala Ní Chonchúir. Nuala's fifth novel NORA, about Nora Barnacle, wife and muse to James Joyce, was published earlier this year by New Island, and her chapbook of historical flash fiction, Birdie, was recently published by Arlen House. She is the editor at flash e-zine Splonk and she lives in Galway.

Nicole Flattery's work has been published in the Stinging Fly, the White Review, the Dublin Review, BBC Radio 4, the Irish Times, Winter Papers and the 2019 Faber anthology of new Irish writing. Her first collection of stories, Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly Press and Bloomsbury. Her story 'Track' won the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize, and 'Parrot' won the Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in 2019.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

On this month's episode of The Stinging Fly Podcast, Ian Maleney is joined by Adrian Duncan, to read a piece from the Summer 2008 issue of the Stinging Fly, an essay from the 'First Passions' series written by the Longford poet Vona Groarke.

Adrian is the Berlin-based author of two novels, Love Notes from A German Building Site, which won the John McGahern Book Prize in 2019, and A Sabbatical in Leipzig. His first collection of short stories, Midfield Dynamo, was published earlier this year by Lilliput Press. Aside from writing, Adrian has also worked as a structural engineer, visual artist, and film-maker. He is the co-editor of Paper Visual Arts, a contemporary art publication based between Berlin and Dublin. 

Vona Groarke has published six collections of poetry with the Gallery Press, as well as the book-length essay, Four Sides Full. A former editor of the Poetry Ireland Review, Vona's writing has won the Michael Hartnett Award, and been shortlisted for the Forward Prize. She currently teaches at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, and is a member of Aosdána.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

This recording was made as part of View Source, a unique online publication, curated by Fallow Media and commissioned by Solas Nua, celebrating contemporary Irish literature at its most adventurous. Working alongside six cutting-edge literary publications in Ireland today – The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review, Gorse, Banshee, Winter Papers, and Fallow Media – View Source invited writers and artists to reimagine stories, poems, and essays first made available in print. You can experience all the writing and sounds, and find out more about the project, at https://viewsource.solasnua.org/.

Louise Hegarty has had work published in Banshee, The Tangerine, and The Dublin Review. Recently, she had a short story featured on BBC Radio 4’s Short Works. She lives in Cork.

Maija Sofia Makela is a musician, songwriter and artist who works between the overlapping worlds of sound, performance and text. Across various forms, her work explores language, shadowed histories, hauntings, diasporic identity, feminism, mysticism and folklore. She is from rural Galway and is of mixed Irish, Finnish and Turkish-Cypriot heritage. She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award for music (2020), her debut album, Bath Time, was shortlisted for the Choice Award album of year and she was artist-in-residence at Sirius Arts Centre for the duration of winter 2020-21.

In this month's episode of the podcast, Danny Denton is joined by novelist Conor O'Callaghan to read and discuss the essay 'Suddenly A Duck', by Claire-Louise Bennett.

Conor O'Callaghan was born in Newry in 1968 and grew up in Dundalk. His first novel, Nothing on Earth, was published in 2016 and was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. His second novel, We Are Not in the World, is due to be published in February 2021. He has also published five collections of poetry, and a memoir: Red Mist: Roy Keane and the Football Civil War, an account of Roy Keane's departure from the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. He currently lectures at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.

Claire-Louise Bennett's short fiction and essays have been published in several publications including The Moth and The Irish Times. She received the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize in 2013. Her first book, Pond, was published in 2016 by The Stinging Fly Press. A novel, Checkout 19, will be published by Jonathan Cape next year.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

This lecture, entitled 'The Dream That Wakes You Up', was commissioned by Words Ireland and delivered – via Zoom – to the Bray Literary Festival in September 2020. You can read this lecture, as well as previous years' lectures by Mia Gallagher and Seán O'Reilly, in full on our website: stingingfly.org. 

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

Caelainn Hogan is the author of Republic of Shame: Stories from Ireland's Institutions for Fallen Women, published in 2019 by Penguin. She has worked as a journalist and filed stories from all over the world for publications like National Geographic, the New York Times magazine, Harper's, the New Yorker, and The Guardian. She's also written essays and reported pieces for The Dublin Review and The Stinging Fly. 

For this episode of the podcast, Caelainn has chosen to read 'On Non-Fiction about Housing and Homelessness', by Lois Kapila, co-founder and managing editor of The Dublin Inquirer, a reader-funded city newspaper for Dublin. Lois was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2019. This piece was published online in June 2017 as a prelude to our Winter 2017 issue, which featured a special section on housing issues. Caelainn's piece 'No Shelter', also discussed in this episode, can be found in that issue too.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

Mark O'Connell, author of To Be A Machine and Notes from an Apocalypse, joins Ian Maleney to read and discuss 'Bland God: Notes on Mark Zuckerberg', an essay from our Summer 2018 issue written by Roisin Kiberd.

Mark O'Connell is a writer based in Dublin. His books, To Be a Machine: Encounters With a Post-Human Future, and Notes From An Apocalypse, are published by Granta in the UK, and Doubleday in the US. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker’s “Page-Turner” blog; his work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Observer, and The Independent.  He has a PhD in English Literature from Trinity College Dublin, and in 2013 his academic monograph on the work of the novelist John Banville, John Banville’s Narcissistic Fictions, was published by Palgrave Macmillan. He was an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow from 2011 to 2012 at Trinity College, where he taught contemporary literature. He won the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize for To Be A Machine, and the 2019 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

Roisin Kiberd is a writer and journalist from Dublin who has written several pieces for the Stinging Fly, and her writing about modern technology has been published in The Guardian, The Dublin Review, and Vice's Motherboard, where she wrote a column about internet subcultures.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for everyone to read during the coronavirus crisis.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.

Eimear Ryan, writer of fiction and essays, as well as the co-editor of Banshee, joins Danny Denton to read and discuss 'Danny', a story by Lucy Sweeney Byrne taken from our 2016 special issue on the Easter Rising.

Eimear Ryan is from Co. Tipperary and lives in Cork. She writes about sport for the Irish Examiner and is an editor for the literary journal Banshee. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Winter Papers, Granta, The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Town & Country (Faber) and The Long Gaze Back (New Island). She is currently working on a collection of essays, and a novel. 

Lucy Sweeney Byrne is a writer of short stories, essays and poetry. Her work has appeared in Banshee, The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review, Grist, and the anthology Stinging Fly Stories (2018). From Greystones, Co. Wicklow, she currently lives in London. Her debut collection, Paris Syndrome, will be published by Banshee Press in September.

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.

Wendy Erskine, author of the acclaimed debut collection Sweet Home, joins Danny Denton at the Belfast Book Festival to read and talk about 'Prosinečki', a story by Adrian Duncan taken from our Summer 2018 issue of the magazine.

Wendy Erskine’s work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, and on BBC Radio 4. Her work has been collected in Stinging Fly Stories, Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland (New Island Books), and Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber and Faber). Sweet Home is her first collection, published in 2018 by The Stinging Fly Press and in 2019 by Picador. Sweet Home has been nominated for the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize.

Adrian Duncan is an artist and writer based in Ireland and Berlin. His visual-art work is primarily installation based, most often using photography, film and sculpture. His process of making and the aesthetic of his works derives from an interest in language, and the processes of construction – amateur and professional. His writing has been published by Frieze, the Times Literary Supplement (UK), Art & the Public Sphere (UK), the Dublin Review, Architecture Ireland, The Stinging Fly, and the Irish Times, among others. His debut novel Love Notes from a German Building Site was published by The Lilliput Press in 2019. He is coeditor of Paper Visual Art Journal (IRL/DE).

The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast’s theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes’, by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.