‘They wait at the lights. The way he presses the button on the pedestrian crossing is slow and deliberate. She shivers. If he was her husband, he would put an arm around her, rub briskly up and down her back to warm her up. But he is not her husband.’

Claire Gleeson Fiction 5th June 2025

‘He knows his brother is driving. The two of them are in their mother’s car and his brother is next to him. He rests his head against the passenger window and closes his eyes. There are bumps in the road. His head bangs against the window but there is no pain.’

Grahame Williams Fiction 9th April 2025

“The children step forward one by one, and say, ‘I’m special because…’ and one by one they fill in why with brave, loud voices. They’re too young to hide who they are. The people watching them know them better than they’ll ever know themselves.”

Seán Farrell Fiction 6th March 2025

‘From inside this hell, in this dazed state of terror, I write to you about my adventure yesterday, offering a testimony of defeat from a man who longs for a hot bath like the ones he used to take before the war.’

Yousri Alghoul Fiction 7th January 2025

For this month’s story, Nuala O’Connor takes inspiration from Elizabeth Bowen’s 1925 short story, ‘The Parrot’.

Nuala O’Connor Fiction 8th November 2024

This month’s story is co-authored by Eley Williams and Nell Stevens. It’s from Duets, a new anthology of co-authored stories, published this month by Scratch Books.

Eley Williams and Nell Stevens Fiction 3rd October 2024

A new story by Lucy Sweeney Byrne from her second collection of stories, Let’s Dance, which will be published next month by Banshee Press.

Lucy Sweeney Byrne Fiction 11th September 2024

'As she flew through the sky in the white clouds, Fatma agonised over the expectations placed on her. She thought about all the cars she was expected to bring back to her village, and the promises she had made to find people jobs – as if she could create opportunities in Bahari!'

Dennis Shonko Fiction 6th August 2024

A new short story from Wendy Erskine, written in 48 hours as part of our Great Big Giant Short Story Experiment.

Wendy Erskine Fiction 4th July 2024

‘Normally I hate swimming in the ocean, everything about it scares me deeply; but after a few drinks I dive in fearlessly, with abandon and hope.’

Alena Lodkina Fiction 5th June 2024

‘At the end of the corridor, through a door, Sylvester emerged into a games room. A skittles alley games room. It was a long room, whose centre was two brightly polished skittles alleys, and the boy. For there was a boy. There was.’

Jacob Parker Fiction 5th April 2024

‘There’s just something about the way you are together. It’s a quiet sort of thing, but I’d say it works, doesn’t it?’

Rebecca Ivory Fiction 5th March 2024

‘After a while he forgot he was dancing with his pen pal’s mother and he believed she forgot that he was the soft pouchy boy her daughter had brought home. That was the joy of it. They forgot themselves.‘

Mary Morrissy Fiction 7th February 2024

So Gelon says to me, ‘Let’s go down and feed the Athenians. The weather’s perfect for feeding Athenians.’

Ferdia Lennon Fiction 10th January 2024