‘I credit The Stinging Fly with the fact that I’m a writer today, something that would once have seemed as remote a possibility as becoming an astronaut.’ —Danielle McLaughlin

‘The Stinging Fly is an essential part of the thriving ecosystem of Irish literary life. When people ask me how to break into publication I tell them to try there first. It is where the seeds of future writing careers are sown.’—Anne Enright

The Stinging Fly has been publishing and promoting the very best new work from Irish and international writers since 1998, going from founder Declan Meade collecting the first bundle of envelopes from Dublin’s James’s Street post office, to a team of readers assessing thousands of new pieces submitted each year from the four corners of the earth. The magazine is now regarded as the lynchpin in the new wave of Irish literature, and has been the launchpad for so many writing careers, including Kevin Barry, Colin Barrett, Nicole Flattery, Wendy Erskine, among many, many more. Join editors past and present as they discuss, dissect and reminisce about their time at the helm of The Stinging Fly. From stories that kept them up at night to the ones that got away, from lessons learned to stresses weathered, this event will throw open the window on the workings of an internationally renowned literary magazine, the ascent of contemporary Irish writing, and where the next 25 years may bring us.

Declan Meade is publisher and a founding editor of The Stinging Fly. He also runs The Stinging Fly Press through which he has edited and published short-story collections by writers such as Colin Barrett, Kevin Barry, Claire-Louise Bennett, Wendy Erskine, Nicole Flattery, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Sean O’Reilly and Cathy Sweeney.

Thomas Morris is the author of We Don’t Know What We’re Doing, a short story collection set in his home town of Caerphilly, South Wales. He was editor of The Stinging Fly from 2014-16, and is now Editor at Large.

Lisa McInerney is the editor of The Stinging Fly magazine. She is the author of three novels and has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the RSL Encore Award.

Danny Denton is the author of the novels The Earlie King & the Kid In Yellow and All Along The Echo. He lectures on writing at University College Cork and is a contributing editor to The Stinging Fly.

Mia Gallagher writes novels, stories and essays. Her relationship with The Stinging Fly goes back to 2009 when her story ‘Polyfilla’ was published in the anthology ‘Let’s Be Alone Together’. She has been a contributing editor since 2018. Her most recent collaborations with the Fly include an essay for Thomas Morris’ Rejection series and a response to Val Mulkerns’ story ‘The Girls’ in the Fly anthology ‘The Writer’s Torch’.

You may also be interested in: The Stinging Fly at 25: Launch of Summer 2023 Issue, happening Sat 20 May at 20:30.

Presented in partnership with The Stinging Fly Magazine.