The Stinging Fly Podcast

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.

In this conversation, Jon McGregor, a celebrated author and creative writing professor, dives into his short story 'Dwell,' crafted in just one night. He shares the emotional weight of writing under pressure and the thrill of creativity fueled by constraints. McGregor discusses the significance of impactful endings and how they shape narrative satisfaction, particularly in post-apocalyptic genres. Additionally, he reflects on the unique challenges of writing engaging short stories for radio while highlighting the balance between inspiration and the realities of editing.

Joining the discussion are Marie-Helene Bertino, a celebrated author from New York with a forthcoming novel, Rebecca Ivory, a Dublin-based short fiction writer, and Stephen Sexton, a poet and teacher at the Seamus Heaney Centre. They reflect on a unique overnight writing challenge, sharing humorous anecdotes about creative blocks, the tension of deadlines, and the thrill of late-night inspiration. Stephen's evocative poetry about landscapes contrasts beautifully with the personal journeys they discuss, emphasizing the interconnectedness of creativity and community.

On this month's episode of the podcast, editor Danny Denton is joined by translator Frank Wynne, to read and discuss a short story, "Britney Spears' Sandwich", by Togolese writer Kangni Alem, which first appeared in English in our most recent issue, Summer 2021. Kangni Alem is an award-winning Togolese writer, critic and playwright. He founded the Atelier Théâtre de Lomé in 1989. He has published five novels and three collections of short stories, the most recent of which is Britney Spears’ Sandwich (Lomé, 2019). This is the first time his work has been translated into English. Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator from French and Spanish whose authors have included Michel Houellebecq, Javier Cercas and Virginie Despentes. He jointly won the DUBLIN Literary Award, and has twice won both the Scott Moncrieff Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán. He edited the anthologies Found in Translation (2018) and QUEER: LGBT writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday (2021). During 2021, Frank is collaborating with The Stinging Fly as our first translator-in-residence. 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.