Show Notes
On this month’s episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Dean Fee and Emily Cooper to discuss their work as writers and editors of The Pig's Back. Read and discussed on the podcast are Danielle McLaughlin’s short story, 'Night of the Silver Fox’ originally published in Issue 23, Volume 2 of The Stinging Fly, and Mathew Sweeney's poem, 'Donegal', originally published in Issue 37, Volume 2 of The Stinging Fly.
Dean Fee is a writer from Cavan. His short fiction and non-fiction has been published in The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Banshee and The Tangerine. He has received two Literature Bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland. He was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Foundation Award in 2021 and was editor-in-residence at the Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny, in 2022. He is represented by Zoë Waldie at RCW and is the managing editor of The Pig’s Back literary journal.
Emily Cooper is a poet and writer based in Donegal. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Banshee, Winter Papers, London Magazine and others. She was a 2019 recipient of the Next Generation Award and has been awarded three Literature Bursaries by the Arts Council of Ireland. Her poetry collection Glass was published by Makina Books in 2021 and The Conversation, a collaborative collection written with Jo Burns will be published this year by Doire Press. She is represented by Harriet Moore at David Higham Associates and an editor for The Pig’s Back literary journal.
Danielle McLaughlin is the author of the short-story collection, Dinosaurs on Other Planets, and the novel, The Art of Falling, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Dublin Literary Award. She has been Writer in Residence at University College Cork and Visiting Writer Fellow at the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College, Dublin. She has also designed and delivered workshops in Creative Writing for various organisations and festivals and currently mentors a number of emerging writers.
Matthew Sweeney (1952-2018) was born in Lifford, County Donegal. His poetry collections include A Dream of Maps (1981), A Round House (1983), The Lame Waltzer (1985), Blue Shoes (1989), Cacti (1992), The Bridal Suite (1997), A Smell of Fish (2000), Selected Poems (2002), Sanctuary (2004), Black Moon (2007), The Night Post: A Selection (Salt, 2010), Horse Music (2013), Inquisition Lane (2015), My Life as a Painter (2018), King of a Rainy Country (2018), and Shadow of the Owl (2020). His work has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and won the inaugural Pigott Poetry Prize. He was a member of Aosdána.
Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was published by Bloomsbury in 2023.
The Stinging Fly Podcast invites 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 to subscribers.
More from The Stinging Fly Podcast
On this month’s episode Nicole is joined by Niamh Boyce to read from and discuss her story ‘We Can’t Have Artists Losing Their Tempers’ published in Issue 54 Volume Two of The Stinging Fly magazine.
On this month’s episode Nicole is joined by Susannah Dickey to read from and discuss her story ‘Diplomats’ published in Issue 54 Volume Two of The Stinging Fly magazine. In their conversation Nicole and Susannah talk about rivalry and jealousy in female friendships, toxic masculinity and femininity, the difficulty of forming a self and identity in early adulthood, AC/DC, the British Empire as enemy, and the pleasure of writing characters in their 20's. Susannah Dickey is a writer from Derry. She is the author of three novels, most recently Into The Wreck (Bloomsbury, 2026). Her debut poetry collection, ISDAL, won the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and was a book of the year in the Guardian and The Irish Times. Her second poetry collection will be published in 2027. Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her novel, Nothing Special, was published by Bloomsbury in 2023. Her new novel Everything is Nice, Everything is Lovely will be published by Jonathan Cape in May 2027. --- Each month on The Stinging Fly Podcast, we invite writers from the latest issue of the magazine to read and discuss their work. 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’s archive is available to subscribers. Apple Podcasts Spotify
On this month’s episode of The Stinging Fly Podcast our poetry editor Annemarie Ní Churreáin is joined by Róisín Leggett Bohan, featured poet of Issue 54 Volume Two of The Stinging Fly magazine, to read from and discuss her work.
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On this month’s episode, contributing editor Mia Gallagher is joined by June Caldwell to read from and discuss her story ‘Night of the Big Wind’ from Issue 53 Volume Two, the climate issue. June Caldwell is twice a prize-winner of The Moth Short Story Prize (2024 & 2014) and a 2026 recipient of Writing Place, Writing Planet, with The UCD Mary Lavin Centre for Creative Writing and iCRAG Research Ireland Centre for Applied Geosciences. Her short story collection Room Little Darker was published in 2017 by New Island Books to critical acclaim and in 2018 by Head of Zeus, UK. Her debut novel is forthcoming. Mia Gallagher was born in Dublin, where she still lives. She writes novels, short stories and essays and has also devised and written for theatre. Her books include the novels HellFire (Penguin, 2006) and Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland (New Island, 2016) translated into Bulgarian in March 2026, and the short story collection Shift (New Island, 2018). Recent work includes Two Wheel Better? An essay for the Stinging Fly Climate Issue, and Great Beasts of Myth, a short story broadcast on RTÉ Radio. Mia is a contributing editor with The Stinging Fly and a member of Aosdána. – — – Each month on The Stinging Fly Podcast, we invite writers from the latest issue of the magazine to read and discuss their work. 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’s archive is available to subscribers.