The Stinging Fly Podcast

On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by James Hudson to read from and discuss his story ‘Dog Story’, published in the Summer 2025 issue of The Stinging Fly Issue 52 Volume Two.James Hudson is a writer, editor and programmer from Dublin. His writing is published with Southword Editions, The Stinging Fly, The Liminal Review, Channel, Neon Hemlock, and others. He is the director of the Trans Image/Trans Experience Film Festival and Assistant Programmer at the GAZE LGBTQIA International Film Festival. Across both literature and film, his focus is on queer art, horror, fantasy, sexuality, transgression, and whatever gets you going.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 from the latest issue of The Stinging Fly to read and discuss their work. 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 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. 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 from the latest issue of The Stinging Fly to read and discuss their work. 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 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 University of Limerick. Their works have been published in The Stinging Fly, Analog SF&F, Channel, The Ogham Stone, Silver Apples and Riverbed Review. Currently, they’re the artistic director for Sans. PRESS.James Young is a writer from Northern Ireland. His short stories have appeared in a wide range of publications and been shortlisted for the Sean O’Faolain, Wasafiri, Fish, and Bath prizes. He is the co-editor of Short Fiction literary journal and runs the Hastings Writers Workshop, a creative writing centre. He is also a translator, and his translation of The Love of Singular Men by the Brazilian author Victor Heringer was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Awards John Leonard Prize and the ALTA First Translation Prize, won the 2024 Jabuti Prize for the best Brazilian novel published abroad, and was runner-up for the Society of Authors/Translators Association First Translation 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 published by Bloomsbury in 2023.The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers from the latest issue of The Stinging Fly to read and discuss their work. 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 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.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 from the latest issue of The Stinging Fly to read and discuss their work. 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.

{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 host Nicole Flattery.}On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Darragh McCausland and Nicole Morris to read from and discuss their essays featured in the Winter 2024-25 issue of The Stinging Fly Issue 51 Volume Two.Darragh’s essay, ‘Isometric Games’ can be found on page 166, and Nicole’s essay, ‘How to Get Rid of a Ghost, Part One’, can be found on page 212.Darragh McCausland is a writer from Kells, County Meath based in Dublin. He writes fiction and nonfiction and is widely published in various journals and anthologies.Nicole Morris is a poet who writes essays. Her writing has also been featured in Banshee, Blood Orange Review, and elsewhere. She has been supported by Tin House and was shortlisted for the 2024 Disquiet International and Indiana Review nonfiction prizes. Originally from Los Angeles, she lives near the sea in County Mayo.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 from the latest issue of The Stinging Fly to read and discuss their work. 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 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 Woodhouse Prize, and was named a Book of the Year by The Guardian and The Daily Mail. His novel, Eden's Shore, is coming out with John Murray Press in April, 2025. Mariana Enriquez is the author of three novels, two collections of short stories and two works of non-fiction in Spanish. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages, and her most recent story collection, Things We Lost in the Fire, was published by Granta Books in 2017. Her stories have also appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, McSweeney's and Asymptote. Megan McDowell's translations include works by Alejandro Zambra, Samantha Schweblin, Lina Meruane, Diego Zuniga, and Alejandro Jodorowsky, and have been featured in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeney's, Granta, and the Atlantic Quarterly, among others. She lives in Santiago, Chile. 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 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, Banshee, The Georgia Review, Subtropics, The Common, and elsewhere. She has published poetry collections with Salmon Poetry and Dedalus Press and translations in dual language volumes from Cló Iar-Chonnacht, Bloodaxe Books, and Yale University Press. Her novel Before the House Burns was published by Lilliput Press in 2010. She is senior fiction editor at the literary magazine AGNI. From County Clare, she lives in Alabama.Colm O’Shea’s work has appeared in gorse, The Vigilantia Anthology (Chroma Editions), Winter Papers, Sublunary Editions (Firmament), 3AM Magazine, The Tangerine, Fallow Mediaand others. He has also been broadcast on RTÉ radio (Keywords). He was a winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair in 2012, and won The Aleph Writing Prize in 2019. His debut work of experimental nonfiction is scheduled to be published by LJMcD Communications in 2024.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.⁠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 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 McGahern Book Prize, and is currently shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize. Kala was named a book of the year by NPR, the Guardian, Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club, GQ Magazine, and The Independent, amongst others. Walsh’s short stories have won several awards, including the Hennessy Literary Award and the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Prize. His work has been published in The Stinging Fly and broadcast on RTE Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4. He grew up in Galway and lives in Belgium. Clara Kumagai is from Canada, Japan and Ireland. Her fiction and non-fiction for children and adults has been published in The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, Banshee and The Kyoto Journal. Her debut YA novel, Catfish Rolling was nominated for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Writing, a finalist for the 2023 Great Reads Award and won the 2023 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award. 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 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 first collection of stories, Free Therapy, was published by Jonathan Cape in March 2024. Eamon McGuinness is from Dublin. His fiction has appeared in The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners, The Stinging Fly, The Lonely Crowd, The Pig’s Back and The Four Faced Liar. He has won an O.Henry Prize for fiction, the Michael McLaverty, Wild Atlantic Words and Maria Edgeworth short story competitions. He is currently working on a novel. 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 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 Personal Journey Through the Internet was published by Serpent’s Tail in 2021. Roisin is the non-fiction editor of The Stinging Fly and lectures in creative writing at the University of Galway. John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, The Tangerine and Granta and been broadcast on BBC Radio3. He is the fiction editor for Banshee magazine. His debut collection of short stories, Pure Gold, was published in 2021 and his novel, Fun and Games, will be published in 2025. 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.