
The Stinging Fly Podcast
Irish writers read and discuss a favourite story from the archives of the Stinging Fly magazine.
Latest episodes

Mar 2, 2020 • 34min
Cathy Sweeney Reads Tania Hershman
In the first episode of 2020, Declan Meade is joined by Cathy Sweeney, to read from and discuss the work of Tania Hershman.
Cathy Sweeney’s writing has been published in The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review, Egress, Winter Papers, Banshee, and The Tangerine. Her stories have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut collection of short fiction, Modern Times, will be published by Stinging Fly Press in March.
Tania Hershman is a poet, writer, teacher and editor based in the North of England. A former science journalist, she has published three collections of short stories and a poetry collection, while her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4. Her writing has appeared several times in the Stinging Fly over the years.
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.

Nov 25, 2019 • 47min
Stephen Sexton Reads Sinéad Morrissey
Stephen Sexton joins us on this month's episode of the Stinging Fly podcast, to read and discuss two poems by Sinéad Morrissey.
Stephen Sexton's debut collection, If All The World And Love Were Young, was published in September 2019 by Penguin, and won The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection in October. Sexton’s first pamphlet, Oils (Emma Press), was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice; he won the UK National Poetry Competition in 2016 with 'The Curfew'; he won an Eric Gregory Award in 2018. He lives in Belfast, where he teaches at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry.
Sinéad Morrissey was born in Portadown in 1972, grew up in Belfast, and holds a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin. In January 2014, she won the T. S. Eliot Prize for her fifth collection Parallax, and in 2017 she won the Forward Prize for Poetry for her sixth collection On Balance. In 2007, Morrissey was awarded the Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry, while her poem 'Through the Square Window' took first place in the UK National Poetry Competition the same year. She is lecturer in Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Queen’s University, Belfast.
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.

Oct 14, 2019 • 35min
Oisín Fagan Reads David Hayden
Oisín Fagan, novelist and short-story writer, chooses 'Hay', a story by David Hayden which first appeared in our Spring 2010 issue.
Oisín Fagan has had fiction published in The Stinging Fly, New Planet Cabaret and the anthology Young Irelanders. He won the inaugural Penny Dreadful Novella Prize for his novella The Heirophants. His debut collection of stories, Hostages, was published in 2016 by New Island, and his first novel, Nobber, was published this year by JM Originals. He currently lives and works in Dublin.
David Hayden’s writing has appeared in gorse, the Yellow Nib, the Moth, Stinging Fly, Spolia and the Warwick Review, and his poetry in PN Review. He was shortlisted for the 25th RTÉ Francis MacManus Short Story prize. Born in Dublin, he has lived in the US and Australia and is now based in Norwich, UK, where he is currently working on a novel. His debut collection, Darker With The Lights On, was published in 2017 by Little Island.
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.

Jul 24, 2019 • 47min
Eimear Ryan Reads Lucy Sweeney Byrne
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.

Jun 11, 2019 • 45min
Wendy Erskine Reads Adrian Duncan
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.

Apr 17, 2019 • 40min
Nicole Flattery Reads Keith Ridgway
Nicole Flattery, author of the newly-published debut collection, Show Them A Good Time, joins Danny Denton in the studio to talk about 'Andy Warhol', a story by Keith Ridgway taken from the Winter 2011 issue of the magazine, and recently collected in the Stinging Fly Stories anthology.
Nicole Flattery's stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Dublin Review, The White Review, Winter Papers, The Letters Page and The Stinging Fly. She is a recipient of a Next Generation Artists’ Award from the Arts Council and The White Review Short Story Prize. Originally from Mullingar, Nicole now lives in Galway. Show Them A Good Time is published by The Stinging Fly Press, and Bloomsbury in the UK.
Keith Ridgway is from Dublin. He is the author of The Long Falling (Faber, 1998, Houghton Mifflin, 1998), Standard Time (Faber, 2001), Horses (Faber, 2003), The Parts (Faber, 2003, St. Martin's Press, 2004), Animals (Fourth Estate, 2007), and Hawthorn & Child (Granta Books, 2012, New Directions 2013). His short fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, Stinging Fly, and others. He has reviewed fiction for The Irish Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. He has taught fiction writing courses in Dublin, and since 2013 at the Faber Academy. He has been awarded the Prix Femina in France and The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. He lives in south London.

Mar 14, 2019 • 38min
Melatu Uche Okorie Reads Ian Shine And Jonathan Edwards
Melatu Uche Okorie, author of the much-heralded story collection This Hostel Life, joins Sally Rooney in the studio to discuss two pieces of flash fiction: 'Cute', by Ian Shine, and 'FA Cup Winners On Open Top Bus Tour of My Village', by Jonathan Edwards.

Feb 20, 2019 • 44min
Anne Griffin Reads Oisin Fagan
Sally Rooney is joined in the studio this month by Anne Griffin, best-selling author of When All Is Said, recently published by Sceptre. Anne reads 'Scaffolding', a story by Oisin Fagan, from our Spring 2015 issue.

Nov 26, 2018 • 35min
Jessica Traynor Reads Wendy Erskine
In the November edition of the podcast, Sally Rooney is joined in the studio by Jessica Traynor. They read and discuss Wendy Erskine's story, 'To All Their Dues', first published by the Stinging Fly in Summer 2016 and included in Erskine's recently-published debut collection, Sweet Home.
Jessica Traynor was born in Dublin in 1984. Her poems have been published widely, and her debut collection, Liffey Swim (Dedalus Press, 2014), was shortlisted for the Strong/Shine Award. She won the Listowel Poetry Prize in 2011, was named Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year in 2013, and in 2014 was the recipient of the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary. She has been commissioned by the Arts Council, Poetry Ireland, and the Salvage Press. She has worked as Literary Manager for the Abbey Theatre and is currently Deputy Museum Director at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. Her latest collection, The Quick, has just been published by Dedalus Press.
Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Stinging Fly Stories and Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland (New Island Books) and is forthcoming in Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber and Faber), Winter Papers and on BBC Radio 4. Erskine's debut collection, Sweet Home, was published by the Stinging Fly Press in September 2018.

Oct 1, 2018 • 46min
Emilie Pine Reads Julian Gough
Emilie Pine, bestselling author of the essay collection 'Notes to Self', joins Sally Rooney in studio to talk about Julian Gough's essay, 'How To Edit Your Own Lousy Writing'.