We are delighted to introduce two additional online workshops to this year’s summer school programme. Both workshops are aimed at people who have only recently started writing fiction. They will be suitable for people who feel that they will benefit from being part of a group with other early-stage writers. Over the course of five days, participants will complete writing exercises aimed at generating ideas for new work. They will also study various aspects of writing craft. Complete beginners are very welcome to apply.
No more than eight places will be available on each workshop. Everyone applying for these workshops will be asked to submit 1 to 2 pages of a short story they have written. (This work will be read by the workshop leaders to help them select participants for their workshop groups. It will not be shared within the workshop groups.)
Before the workshops commence, participants will be provided with links to a selection of short stories that they will be expected to read in advance. During the workshops, participants will be encouraged to share some of the new work they have written.
Online Workshops via Zoom:
July 3rd to July 7th with Danielle McLaughlin (2pm to 5pm)
July 10th to July 14th with Maame Blue (10am to 1pm)
Open for applications until midnight on Wednesday May 3rd 2023.
Workshop Leaders:
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.
Maame Blue is a Ghanaian-Londoner and author of the novel Bad Love, which won the 2021 Betty Trask award, and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize. She has been a scriptwriter on a Venezuelan telenovela remixed for African audiences, and her short stories have appeared in Not Quite Right For Us (Flipped Eye Publishing), New Australian Fiction 2020 (Kill Your Darlings), and Joyful, Joyful (Pan Macmillan). Maame is a recipient of the 2022 Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship and was a 2022 POCC Artist-in-Residence. Maame contributes regularly to Writers Mosaic and has written pieces for Refinery29, Black Ballad and Society of Authors Magazine. She is a Faber Academy and City Lit Creative Writing Tutor and regularly runs creative writing workshops for organisations including Arvon, Spread the Word and Writing New South Wales.
Fees:
The tuition fee for each entry-level workshop is €300. The concession rate for anyone on low income or unwaged is €200.
Fees are payable only when a place has been offered and you have accepted the offer. We will ask for a non-refundable deposit of €100 to be paid by Friday 2nd June. Fees must be paid in full by Friday June 23rd.
Free Places:
Thanks to the support we receive from the Arts Council and to the continued generosity of our patrons, we are in a position to offer one free place in all of our summer school workshops. These are awarded to writers who are either unwaged or on low income. To be considered for a free place, all you need to do is follow the general guidelines below and tick the box on the submission form.
The Stinging Fly is open to submissions from writers of all backgrounds. We are committed to pursuing a proactive approach to diversity and inclusiveness. We strongly encourage writers from underrepresented areas of society to apply for these workshops.
To apply for a place:
Applications for places will be accepted via Submittable until midnight on Wednesday May 3rd.
Send us a short sample of your work. The workshop leaders want to read the first one to two pages of a story you have written.
All applicants must supply a cover note as part of the Submittable application form and answer a few questions.
Apply for the entry-level workshops here.
We will aim to send out offers of places no later than Wednesday 17th May. Participants will be asked to confirm their places as soon as possible.