The Stinging Fly Podcast

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Tenaya Steed to read from and discuss his story ‘Water Lilies’, published in the Summer 2025 issue of The Stinging Fly Issue 52 Volume Two.

Tenaya Steed is a writer and artist. Her stories have been published in The Stinging Fly and won the Michael McLaverty Award and The Stinging Fly/FBA Fiction Prize. She lives and works in Dublin.

Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. He...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Paula Dias Garcia and James Young to read from and discuss their stories featured in the Winter 2024-25 issue of The Stinging Fly Issue 51 Volume Two.

Paula’s story, ‘The Woods’ can be found on page 193, and James’ story, ‘Long Term Parking’, can be found on page 154.

Paula Dias Garcia is a queer writer and designer from Brasília, with an MA in Creative Writing from the Unive...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Tim MacGabhann to read from and discuss his story ‘Pit’, published in the Winter 2024-25 issue of The Stinging Fly Issue 51 Volume Two.

Tim MacGabhann is the author of the novels Call Him Mine and How to Be Nowhere, the long poem, ‘Rory Gallagher —Live!— at the Hotel’ of the Dead and the memoir The Black Pool. A book of poems and a book of short stories are also forthcoming.

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{Note: It’s almost 8 years since we started our podcast and this is our 55th episode. Up to now, the series has focused on the wealth of material contained in the magazine’s back catalogue and our guests have been asked to select and read a story or essay from the archive. Starting this month, we switch the attention to more recent work with contributors to the current issue being invited to read and discuss their own writing with ...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Oisín Fagan to read and discuss Mariana Enriquez's story, ‘Back When We Talked to the Dead', translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, originally published as in The Stinging Fly Issue 35, Volume 2: Winter 2019/20.

Oisín Fagan is the author of Hostages, and Nobber, which was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Woodhou...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Mary O’Donoghue to read and discuss Colm O’Shea’s story, ‘Feeling Gravity’s Pull’, originally published as part of the Online Fiction series on The Stinging Fly website in October 2023.

Mary O’Donoghue is the author of The Hour After Happy Hour (Stinging Fly Press, 2023). Her short stories have appeared in Granta, The Kenyon Review, The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Colin Walsh to read and discuss Clara Kumagai’s story, ‘Real Boys’, originally published in Issue 35, Volume 2: Winter 2016 – Fear & Fantasy.

Colin Walsh‘s first novel, Kala, was published in 2023. A number one international bestseller, Kala won the Irish Book Award for Newcomer of the Year, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the John Mc...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Rebecca Ivory to read and discuss Eamon McGuinness’s story, ‘Viewpoint’, originally published in Issue 38, Volume 2: Summer 2018 of The Stinging Fly.

Rebecca Ivory is a writer based in Dublin. Her short fiction has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Banshee, The Tangerine and Fallow Media. In 2020, she was awarded a Literature Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. Her...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Roisin Kiberd to read and discuss John Patrick McHugh’s essay, ‘Name Your Character’, originally published in Issue 44/Volume 2: Summer 2021 of The Stinging Fly.

Róisín Kiberd has written essays and features for the The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review, Winter Papers, The White Review, The Guardian and Vice, among other places. Her first book, The Disconnect: A Person...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Caoilinn Hughes to read and discuss Emma Devlin’s short story, ‘The Gift’ originally published in Issue 49 Volume 2, Winter 2023-4. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience as part of Cúirt International Festival of Literature 2024. Please note: there are some brief moments of distortion in the recording of the conversation due to a technical fault with ...

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Gavin Corbett to read and discuss Rebecca Ivory’s short story, ‘Arrivals’ originally published in Issue 45 Volume 2, Winter 2021-2. The story was written as part of the ‘One Night Stands’ project, curated by Thomas Morris, for which Rebecca and three other writers were asked to write a short piece of fiction in a single night.

Gavin Corbett is the author of three nov...

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.

D...

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 Irelan...

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 t...

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, Childr...

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 Aw...

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 Doneg...

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 ...

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 fo...