Claire-Louise Bennett Reads Lucy Sweeney Byrne

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.