The Stinging Fly

Come celebrate with us as we launch the new issue! 🎪💛🌞 The Stinging Fly Summer 2026 Issue launch party is happening at @ilfdublin Merrion Square, Dublin in the Synge Tent on Saturday night. We have an exciting programme packed with contributor readings, a DJ set with music journalist Siobhán Kane and conversation. We will also announce the winner of this year’s Stinging Fly / FBA Fiction Prize (@felicitybryanagency ). The six writers (pictured above) featured in the new issue who will read on the night are: Lauren Collett Eleanor Hooker Luke Morgan Eva Morrissey William Brady Alan McMonagle The Stinging Fly’s share of the ticket sales from this event will be donated to @hometreecharity See you there ☀️🍦📚 #stingingflylaunch #literaryeventsdublin #literarymagazine #magazinelaunchparty

We are delighted to announce the new paperback edition of Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn.  March 2026 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. Since then, the book has been published in the UK by Granta and is forthcoming in the US from Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG).  In 2025, Every One Still Here was shortlisted for the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year in the 2025 An Post Irish Book Awards. Recently, it has 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 cover image of the new edition is a painting by the Dublin-based artist Stephanie Deady (@stephaniedeadyartist ). The painting is titled EMOTIONAL CALCULUS 7. The cover design is by Eimear Gavin (@eimeargavin ). You can now order the new paperback edition from our online shop via the link in our bio / stories. #everyonestillhere #liadanníchuinn #stingingflybooks #stingingflypress #shortstorycollection

Rituals, the new novel by Danielle McLaughlin is out now 🐇🐚 “Rituals is warm, funny, full of humanity and peppered with devastating insight. I could spend another six hundred pages with these characters. You’re going to fall in love with this book.” – novelist and short-story writer Jan Carson. Joan, a public servant in her fifties, is in the habit of living alone. Or rather, she’s in the habit of living with the many rituals and routines—some ordinary, some less so—that allow her to navigate her days. It’s a system that works very well for Joan… until it doesn’t. An unexpected career break prompts her to take in a lodger, a young man studying English Literature at the university. Together they must learn to negotiate everything from a shared bathroom to the hazards of global warming. Set in Cork city, Rituals takes us inside an obsessive mind and invites us to reflect upon the power and beauty contained within our daily lives, but also the dark grip of compulsion. By turns tender, funny and poignant, it celebrates the bravery involved in opening our hearts to change and to chance. The cover art is by Cork-based artist Siobhán Rea (@0830ritual ). Cover design by Fergal Condon (@fergalcondon ). You can now order the book from our shop via the link in our bio / stories. #rituals #daniellemclaughlin #stingingflybooks #stingingflypress

Tomorrow is the launch of The Stinging Fly Summer 2026 Issue 🖤 Join us for this exciting celebration of Issue 54, featuring contributor readings, conversation and connection – and a DJ session by Siobhan Kane. Hear from writers Luke Morgan, Eleanor Hooker, Alan McMonagle, Eva Morrissey, Lauren Collett and William Brady, who are featured in the new issue. The evening will also feature the announcement of the winner of this year’s Stinging Fly / @felicitybryanagency Fiction Prize. Saturday, 20th May, 8pm in the Synge Tent @ilfdublin Merrion Square Park. Buy your tickets at the link in our bio/ stories. Enjoy these photos from last summer's launch, courtesy of @ghollandphoto 📸

FIVE DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT - WINTER 2026-27 ISSUE Is féidir saothar a chur faoi bhráid The Stinging Fly faoi láthair. Táimid ag glacadh le saothar próis, idir fhicsin is neamhfhicsin, agus filíocht. An 20ú Bealtaine an sprioclá d’eagrán an gheimhridh 2026-27. Tugtar cuireadh d’fhilí na Gaeilge dánta a sheoladh chugainn le foilsiú in Comhchealg. Is trí Submittable a chuirtear saothar faoinár mbráid. Tá eolas faoin bpróiseas ar ár suíomh idirlín. Is tábhachtach linn ardán a thabhairt do scríbhneoirí úra agus do ghuthanna nua. Is minic go bhfoilsímid saothar le daoine nár foilsíodh saothar leo cheana. - Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, Eagarthóir Filíochta #stingingfly #magazinesubmissions #stingingflymagazine #winter2026 #irishlanguagepoetry

Our Summer 2026 issue is now available to order on our website 🌞 We are kicking off the summer in style with the launch of Issue 54 on Saturday night. Join us at our usual spot, The Synge Tent in Merrion Square Park. Tickets are still available via @ilfdublin website. There will be readings of the best new poetry, fiction & non-fiction from the issue by Lauren Collett, Eleanor Hooker, Luke Morgan, Eva Morrissey, William Brady and Alan McMonagle. & a DJ session with music journalist Siobhán Kane (@yhrfdublin ), who will be playing records - a special set responding to our Corkonian cover artist Diarmuid Breen's evocative painting. Thank you to all our contributors for trusting us with their words, and thank you to our brilliant editorial team Lisa McInerney, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Emma Dabiri and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh for putting together another magnificent magazine issue. All orders will be sent out from May 18th onwards. #stingingflymagazine #stingingflyevents #summerparty #issue54 #summer26issue

Join us for The Stinging Fly Summer 2026 Issue Launch All are welcome to this exciting celebration of The Stinging Fly’s Summer 2026 issue, featuring contributor readings, conversation and connection – and a DJ session by Siobhan Kane! Hear from writers Luke Morgan, Eleanor Hooker, Alan McMonagle, Eva Morrissey, Lauren Collett and William Brady, who are featured in the new issue. The evening will also feature the announcement of the winner of this year’s Stinging Fly / FBA Fiction Prize. 📆 Saturday 16 May 🕰️ 8pm 🎫 Link in bio

NEW on our website: A short story by Lisa Harding, 'A Bellyflop Shouldn't Hurt Like This'. "Nothing to see out there anyway, beyond concrete roads and nail bars and steakhouses and burger joints. I don’t know how he lives here, this man who used to love swimming in the Irish sea in any weather and climbing hills, all muck and sweat and high on nature." Read the full story at the link in our stories. #stingingflymagazine #newfiction #newirishwriting #shortstory #lisaharding

Submissions Now Closed EXTENDED DEADLINE: Monday, 11th May, 5pm (Irish Time). We are still accepting submissions of artwork from visual artists living on the island of Ireland. To be considered for future covers of our magazine, please put forward up to three images via the link in our bio & stories. We are keen to discover new artists through this call-out, so this opportunity is only open to artists who have not yet had work featured on one of our covers. Our magazine and book cover artists have included Pat Curran, @stephaniedeadyartist , Niamh Flanagan, @jameshanleyrha , @maher.alice , @odonnellartist_melissa and @_leewelch_ Our two most recent magazine covers were found during a field-trip last year to the 195th @rha.arts Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts Annual Exhibition where we encountered the work of Robert Ryan, whose painting ‘The Conversation’ features on our climate issue cover, and Diarmuid Breen, who has provided ‘The Excursion’ for our upcoming Summer 2026 issue. We are not seeking artwork produced to any particular theme. We’re excited to find existing pieces that are fresh, striking, and specific to the artist’s personal style and approach. What excites you will also – hopefully – excite us. Artists must be over 18 and live on the island of Ireland. Our cover artists receive payment of 500 euro Please help us spread the word: @taylorgalleries @artistsofdublin @nationalgalleryofireland @rha.arts @photoireland @photomuseumirl @visualartistsireland @kevinkavanaghgallery @thehughlane @kerlingallery @templebargalleryandstudios @cagaireland #irishvisualarts #irishphotography #irishart

On the latest episode of Burning Books podcat Danielle McLaughlin reveals which books she would save if her house was on fire🔥📚 Her latest novel Rituals is out now with The Stinging Fly Press. Listen back via link in our stories. #rituals #daniellemclaughlin #stingingflypress #stingingflybooks #burningbooks

NEW on our website: John Christopher Vaughan reviews Idiocy by Pierre Guyotat (trans. Peter Behrman de Sinéty). "It is not irrelevant that this, Guyotat’s parting statement to the world, is related in such lucid terms: he wanted to be loud and clear, to smash the window, to wake the sleeper up. It is not irrelevant that Guyotat writes, in this book, at the age of 78: ‘Life, as repetition, isn’t worth it; only the first time counts.’" Read the full review at the link in our stories. #pierreguyotat #stingingflywebsite #literarycriticism #bookreviews

Spruce up your spring / summer reading list with Rituals 🐇🐚 Rituals has been making the rounds in April, thanks to the editors @irishtimes @image.ie and @theglossmag “McLaughlin works magic with the tiniest of details, using her careful observations to expertly expose society’s flaws and attitudes. The briefest facts about Joan’s neighbour, the lodger’s mother or Joan’s Irish-language tutor, for example, all effortlessly highlight the horrifying but commonplace struggles of women. The catalyst for Joan’s career break gives a heartbreaking insight into her inner emotional life, while furiously skewering the gendered double standards often at play in the workplace.” – Edel Coffey's review of Rituals in The Irish Times “Author Danielle McLaughlin had been fascinated by Rea’s morning drawings for a while, and the pair are long-term friends. In 2023, she decided to collaborate with Rea as the inspiration for a book. The result is Rituals, a gentle yet powerful novel in which the central character, Joan, is both comforted and trapped by her rigorous self-imposed daily habits.” – Gemma Tipton's interview with Danielle McLaughlin & Siobhán Rea in The Irish Times #rituals #daniellemclaughlin #stingingflybooks #stingingflypress