The Stinging Fly

THE CLIMATE ISSUE 🌊 Our Winter 2025-26 issue is out next week! Join us as we celebrate the launch in The Digital Depot, Dublin 8, next Thursday 27th November from 7pm 🎉 This event is free but space is limited and booking is essential: stingingfly.org/product/winter…

Ready to start making summer writing plans? 🌞 Our 2026 Summer School opens for applications on Monday, 23rd March. More info on our website: 🔗stingingfly.org/summer-school/

NEW: Gabrielle McClellan reviews Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck. stingingfly.org/review/things-… “ ‘Thing’ is a broad, elusive category for Erpenbeck: a thing may be a kitchen table or a thing may be, say, the ‘Middle of Nowhere’ or 'The Simple Life'. In these essays, things are always and never specific, always cyclical and changing, always returning in new forms.”

Our new strategy was developed following consultation with The Stinging Fly’s board, executive and members of the wider editorial team; subscribers; writers and The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. The process was independently facilitated by Janice McAdam. 🎨 Design work & graphics by Eimear Gavin

The purpose and vision of The Stinging Fly remain constant. We exist to enrich lives and deepen understanding through literature, propelled by a vision of a world made more compassionate through literature. How do we stay true to our purpose and vision? Our mission to seek out, nurture, publish and promote the very best new writing is well established and stays true. However, we now also acknowledge what has become a defining feature of who we are and what we do: our steadfast support and championing of writers as they work towards the development of a sustainable practice. Read the full document on our website. 🔗 stingingfly.org/wp-content/upl…

Last week, we announced the publication of our Strategy 2026-2030. Here are some highlights from our new strategy to showcase who we are and our plans for the near future. Read the full document on our website. 🔗 stingingfly.org/wp-content/upl… The strategy sets a sustainable course for The Stinging Fly for the next 5 years, furthering our role and purpose as a robust and pioneering organisation, committed to the development of literature on the island of Ireland. Midway through the strategy, in 2028, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Stinging Fly magazine. We are proud that we have sustained its impact and appeal over the decades. This strategy supports us as we assure our future, now as an organisation with charitable status, at the heart of literary life in Ireland and with an influence far beyond. Our new strategy was developed following consultation with The Stinging Fly’s board, executive and members of the wider editorial team; subscribers; writers and The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. The process was independently facilitated by Janice McAdam. The design work & graphics is by Eimear Gavin.

We’re hiring! 📣 Two weeks left to apply. The stinging Fly is looking for a part-time General Manager to support us in the areas of governance, financial management, operations and overall organisational effectiveness. The General Manager is a senior leadership role with responsibilities, working alongside the CEO / Publisher and the wider team, for the effective governance, financial management, and the day-to-day operations of The Stinging Fly. full details on this brand new role at The Stinging Fly 🔗stingingfly.org/news/general-m… 🗓️Closing date for applications: 5pm on Tuesday 31st March 2026

On this month’s episode, our poetry editor, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, is joined by Simon Costello and Jane Robinson who read and discuss their poems in Issue 53, The Climate Issue. stingingfly.org/podcast/simon-… They talk all things the Song of Amergin, finding inspiration from nature reference books, bog elegies, the tension between art and academia and more 💚🌿

We are excited to be part of the brilliant Cúirt Festival programme, with our Climate Issue event to mark Earth Day 💚 cuirt.ie/whats-on/the-s… How as artists should we engage with the consequences of climate change? What can writers – or any of us – do in the face of impending climate catastrophe? These were two of the questions that The Stinging Fly sought to answer when it put out the submission call for its latest issue, which takes the ongoing climate emergency as its theme. This Earth Day, join our editor Lisa McInerney, visual artist Ríonach Ní Néill and poet Joey Connolly in conversation with climate activist and academic Dr Nessa Cronin to discuss the capacity for artists and writers to intervene and to help save our planet.

Come work with us! stingingfly.org/news/general-m… The deadline for application is March 31st, 5pm (Irish time). We are looking for an experienced and highly organised individual to join our team as General Manager. This is a new hybrid and part-time role supporting us in the areas of governance, financial management, operations and overall organisational effectiveness.

Mentoring Panel – Online Event, March 10th, 7pm 💡 Ahead of the next event in our Tuesday Nights Live! series - Meet the Panelists! 🌱 Thomas Morris is the author of two books of stories: We Don’t Know What We’re Doing (2015) and Open Up (2023), both published by Faber & Faber.  As an editor and mentor, Thomas has worked on stories and books by authors including Nicole Flattery, Rebecca Ivory, Michael Magee, Liadan Ní Chuinn, and Chetna Maroo. He lives in Dublin, where for over a decade he worked as an editor at The Stinging Fly. Book your free ticket us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

ONE WEEK TO GO Mentoring Panel – Online Event, March 10th, 7pm Ahead of the next event in our Tuesday Nights Live! series - Meet the Panelists! 🌱💡 Enda Wyley is a Dublin poet and has published seven collections of poetry, most recently Sudden Light, Dedalus Press, October 2025. She is the 2026 recipient of the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Prize in Poetry, St Thomas University Minnesota. Other awards include the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize, Melbourne University and a Reading Association of Ireland Award. She is an experienced teacher of poetry and currently mentors on the National Mentoring programme and for Carlow Pittsburgh University’s MFA Program, USA. Since 2020 she has co-hosted the popular podcast Books for Breakfast, about books and writing. She is a member of Aosdána. ‘Enda Wyley is a true poet.’ Fiona Sampson, The Irish Times. Book your free ticket us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

“As I raised myself on my elbows, she lowered her head over me, just beneath my belly button. One hand stroked my skin, while her other hand held the receptacle below. The other women peered at us, waiting for the basin to fill: was this some fairground trick, some witch’s spell?” - John O’Donnell, ‘Pleading The Belly’

NEW on our website | A short story by @JlodJohn is available to read now: stingingfly.org/2026/03/04/ple…

Recently Every One Still Here was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award, the most influential prize for young writers in the UK and Ireland. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 24th March 2026. youngwriteraward.com/book/liadan-ni…

We are delighted to announce the new paperback edition of Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn. The new edition marks one year since The Stinging Fly Press published the original edition of the brilliant collection of short stories by the young Northern-Irish writer. You can now order the new paperback edition from our online shop. stingingfly.org/product/every-… The cover artwork is a painting by the Dublin-based artist Stephanie Deady titled EMOTIONAL CALCULUS 7. The cover design is by Eimear Gavin.

NEW TSF Podcast: Climate Issue Special Our host Nicole Flattery is joined by magazine editor Lisa McInerney and former non-fiction editor Róisín Kiberd to discuss putting together Issue 53 - The Climate Issue. Listen here: stingingfly.org/podcast/climat…

Wondering what we're up to this Spring? 🌱🌼 Here are some key dates to add to your calendar from March to May 🗓️ There are plenty of opportunities for writers, readers and visual artists to engage with our programme. More details on the applications for our Summer School and the submissions window for our magazine cover artwork will be shared in the weeks ahead 🎨 Sign up to our newsletter for updates🔗 stingingfly.org/newsletter/

Mentoring Panel – Online Event 🟥 ­ The next event in our Tuesday Nights Live! series. Enda Wyley, Thomas Morris, and Elaine Garvey, will join our publisher Declan Meade to discuss their experiences of mentoring. They will offer insights into how mentorship works and the ways in which it can contribute to a writer's development. Share their thoughts through the event registration form. Join us for this free online event. March 10th, 7-8.15pm (Irish Time). Registration is required 🔗us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

Final call for our Climate Issue – Online Event, tonight at 7pm-8pm (Irish Time). Have you registered for the event yet? us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist… This free event will feature contributors to the issue, Claire Carroll, Saoirse Exton and Ariel Saramandi, reading and discussing their work with our editor Lisa McInerney and publisher Declan Meade. It will also be an opportunity for us all to reflect on other work in the issue. We hope you can join us for the conversation. Read the writers bios below.