About Us
THE STINGING FLY is a literary magazine, a book publisher, an education provider, and an online platform. We’re independent and not for profit. Our mission is to seek out, nurture, publish and promote the very best new writers and new writing.
‘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
Read our 2021–2023 Strategy
The Stinging Fly Magazine
The Stinging Magazine was founded in 1997 by Aoife Kavangh and Declan Meade. The first issue appeared in March 1998 and we continue to publish two issues every year. The magazine remains central to who we are and what we do. We believe that there is a need for a magazine that, first and foremost, gives new and emerging writers an opportunity to get their work out into the world. We are particularly concerned to provide an outlet for short story writers.
We have an open submissions policy: we read and consider everything that is sent to us. We then work with all writers to edit their stories, essays and poems in preparation for publication. Every contributor is paid. Our aim is to feature the best new writing from Ireland and beyond in each edition, offering readers an eclectic and enlivening mix of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Past editors: Sally Rooney (2017–18); Thomas Morris (2014–2016); Eabhan Ní Shúileabháin (poetry editor, 2001-2019); Declan Meade (1998–2014); Aoife Kavanagh (1998)
For more information on submitting to the magazine please see the Submission Guidelines.
Read past issues.
The Stinging Fly Press
The Stinging Fly Press imprint was launched in May 2005 with the publication of our first title, Watermark by Sean O’Reilly. Like the magazine, the imprint is particularly interested in promoting the short story.
Since the press’s foundation, we have published landmark, award-winning debut story collections by Colin Barrett, Kevin Barry, Claire-Louise Bennett, Mary Costello, Wendy Erskine, Michael J Farrell, Nicole Flattery, Danielle McLaughlin, and Cathy Sweeney. We have also re-issued key works by Maeve Brennan; published anthologies of contemporary fiction and theatre; and published masterful new work by Sean O’Reilly and Philip Ó Ceallaigh.
Our titles and authors have won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, The Guardian First Book Award, The Kate O’Brien Award, The Butler Literary Award, and The Windham-Campbell Prize.
‘Without the support and generosity of the editors of The Stinging Fly, I would never have been able to complete my first collection of stories, Show Them A Good Time. The Stinging Fly is an invaluable resource to all writers, whether just beginners or further along in their careers. As a Stinging Fly writer, I was offered mentorship and close editorial guidance throughout the process of finishing my first book. Their patience and kindness has shaped me into the writer I am.’ —Nicole Flattery
For more information, please visit our Books page.
An education provider
We organised our first one-day fiction workshop in 2007 and developed this into a six-month workshop programme that we have run in association with the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin for the past ten years. Our writer development programme now also includes an annual summer school, regular seminars and mentoring provision. We bring groups of writers together so they can learn to engage more deeply with their own work and the work of others.
‘Quite simply, I know that without The Stinging Fly I would never have had a single thing published. I attended the six month workshop in 2015–2016 and it was a transformative experience. That sounds a little excessive, but it was. It changed quite profoundly the way I think about what I read, and it made me an infinitely better writer.’ —Wendy Erskine
For more information, please visit our Workshops page.
Online platform
Our website is home to our magazine archive – all the work we’ve published since 1998.
In addition to this, we regularly publish original new content, including in-depth book reviews, a new fiction series and episodes of our podcast.
‘The first story I ever published was in The Stinging Fly. With the magazine’s longstanding prestige, this marked the ‘before and after’ moment when I became a writer not just in my own eyes, but in the eyes of the world. I’ve published fiction, essays and book reviews in The Stinging Fly, in print and online, and have watched with admiration as its reputation and field of operations have expanded (with podcasts, anthologies, a press publishing first-rate books, etc), so that it is now a publication of indisputably international stature.’ —Rob Doyle
Team
Chief Executive: Declan Meade
Magazine Editor: Danny Denton
Assistant Editor/Admin: Sara O’Rourke
Poetry Editor: Cal Doyle
Eagarthóir Filíochta: Aifric Mac Aodha
Editor at Large: Thomas Morris
Contributing Editors: Dan Bolger, Mia Gallagher, Lisa McInerney and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe
Contact details can be found on our Contacts Page.
Partners
The Stinging Fly receives Annual Funding from The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. It receives additional support towards staff and administrative costs from the T.S. Eliot Foundation.
Support The Stinging Fly
Become a Patron
By making an annual contribution, patrons provide the magazine and press with vital support and encouragement. This contribution goes directly towards boosting our writer development programme and helps us plan special projects.
Patrons automatically receive a copy of each new issue, access to the online archive, and, if they choose, their names appear both in the magazine and here on the website. They also receive a free copy of one of the new books we publish each year.
Subscribe
Subscribers can choose whether to receive the latest issues of the magazine, our books, or both!
Buy an Introductory Pack
If you’re new to The Stinging Fly, our special introductory packs offer the ideal way to become acquainted with the work we publish.
Our introductory packs include:
—2 past issues of the magazine
—2 of our paperback books
—a Stinging Fly tote bag
—FREE postage within Ireland/Europe
Join our Newsletter
To keep up to date with new releases, submission opportunities, workshops, readings and events.
Company Information and Governance
As of March 2021, The Stinging Fly is a company limited by guarantee not having a share capital, registered in Dublin, Ireland, with registered company number 691523. It is led by a voluntary board of five directors with Declan Meade, founding editor and publisher, as Chief Executive, leading a highly committed artistic and administrative team.
Directors:
Amy Herron has a MSc in Publishing and has worked for more than ten years across Irish literature and the arts. She is currently an Account Director at a brand and design agency based in Dublin.
Joe Lawlor is a Chartered Accountant. He currently works as a Finance and Commercial Manager with the ESB and holds a number of different board positions including acting as a Trustee for ESB’s social justice and development fund, ElectricAid.
Bush Moukarzel is co-artistic director of Dead Centre theatre company. He has co-authored and co-directed all of the company’s productions, mostly recently The World is Everything That is the Case, at the Burghteater, Vienna.
Sally Rooney (Chairperson) is a novelist from County Mayo. She is the author of the novels Conversations with Friends, Normal People, and Beautiful World, Where Are You.
Olivia Smith (Secretary) is co-editor of Winter Papers, an annual anthology for the arts. She previously lectured law for many years at universities in Ireland and the UK. She is a board member of The Model, home of the Niland Collection, Sligo, and she was on the board of the Ballymun Community Law Centre from 2009 to 2017.
Accounts
Prior to 2021, Declan Meade operated The Stinging Fly as a sole trader. Annual accounts were compiled by Nolan & Associates, Chartered Accountants. The accounts for 2020 are available here.