Show Notes
Naoise Dolan, author of the acclaimed debut novel, Exciting Times, joins Declan Meade in studio to read and discuss the subtle gothic horror of Emma Donoghue's 'Looking for Petronilla', a story that appeared way back in Issue 11 of the magazine in Winter 2001.
Naoise Dolan was born in Dublin, studied at Trinity College, and completed a master's degree in Victorian literature at Oxford. Her writing has featured in The Dublin Review and The Stinging Fly. Her debut novel Exciting Times has been described by Hilary Mantel as “droll, shrewd and unafraid” – it is published this month by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK, and in June by Ecco in the US.
Emma Donoghue is an Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel Room was an international best-seller, and a finalist for the Man Booker Prize – the movie adaptation of the book was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award, and her novel Slammerkin won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction. Her latest novel, Akin, was published last year.
The Stinging Fly Podcast invites Irish 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 for subscribers to read – subscribe now and access 20 years of the best new writing.
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.
On this month’s episode Nicole is joined by Tom Morris to read from and discuss his story ‘Notes on Contributors’ published in Issue 54 Volume Two of The Stinging Fly magazine.
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.