The Stinging Fly Podcast

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.

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'.

Evelyn Conlon reads from her story, 'The Park', about the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979, and discusses its relevance ahead of Pope Francis' upcoming visit.

Martina Evans joins Declan Meade in the studio to read Sinéad Morrissey's story, 'The Day I Brought Water'.

Martina Evans is an Irish poet, novelist and teacher. She grew up in County Cork in a country pub, shop and petrol station and is the youngest of ten children. She is the author of eleven books of prose and poetry. Her latest poetry collection, 'Now We Can Talk Openly About Men', was published by Carcanet in May 2018.

Sinéad Morrissey is a Northern Irish poet. 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.

'The Day I Brought Water' was first published in the Stinging Fly in Summer 2003. It also appears in our recent anthology, 'Stinging Fly Stories'.

In this month's episode, Sally Rooney is joined in studio by Mia Gallagher to read and discuss 'Ten Days, Counting Slowly', a short story by Jennifer Brady. 'Ten Days, Counting Slowly' was first published in our Summer 2008 issue, and is included in our new anthology, 'Stinging Fly Stories'.

Sally Rooney is joined by Sarah Gilmartin for a very special edition of the podcast this month. They discuss five stories selected from the new 'Stinging Fly Stories' anthology, a collection of 40 stories by 40 writers which celebrates 20 years of the Stinging Fly magazine. Excerpts from the stories are read by Karl Parkinson, Nora Pyne, Lucy Sweeney Byrne, Leona Lee Cully, and Oisin Fagan.

'Stinging Fly Stories' is available to buy in bookshops now, or you can order it directly from the Stinging Fly: https://stingingfly.org/product/stinging-fly-stories/

Colm Keegan joins Sally Rooney to read and discuss 'The Cavalcade', a dark and ambiguous story by Sean O'Reilly.

The Stinging Fly Podcast returns for its February edition, with Danny Denton joining Thomas Morris to discuss the surreal tragicomedy of Nicole Flattery's 'Show Them A Good Time'.

Our first podcast of 2018 sees June Caldwell pick Claire-Louise Bennett’s powerful and deeply unsettling 'Morning, 1908' to read and discuss with Sally Rooney.

In the third episode of our new podcast, Kevin Barry reads two short stories by Cathy Sweeney, and talks to Sorcha Kenny about their "strange and elusive" qualities.