Stinging Fly Workshops

Our workshop programme includes our annual summer school and a six-month fiction fiction workshop, both of which are usually run in association with the Irish Writers Centre.

The principal aim of our workshop programme is to allow writers to develop their writing practice through engagement with groups of like-minded, similarly motivated individuals.

Due to current restrictions on account of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we have moved the dates for our summer school and modified the programme on offer.

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Stinging Fly Summer School July 13th-17th 2020

3 Close-Reading Groups meeting daily (Monday to Thursday)
Maximum of 20 participants per group
Plenary sessions each day featuring Guest Author Q&As (Monday to Thursday)
Final plenary sessions on Friday to review the week, plus Q&A with Editors

All sessions will be conducted through Zoom video conferencing.

The main focus this year will be to explore the benefits of close reading. We want to give you the opportunity to think differently about your own creative process and practice through engagement with other published texts.  We’ve invited a stellar line-up of writers working across the different literary forms to select and share work that has been important to their own development. 

You are invited to sign up to join one of our three groups: poetry, non-fiction, or fiction. 

Each day, Monday to Thursday, our guest writers and poets will lead the groups through a one hour-long close-reading seminar.

10.30am – 11.30am Group 1: Poetry
11.30am – 12.30pm Group 2: Non-fiction
2.00pm – 3.00pm Group 3: Fiction — FULLY BOOKED

Each afternoon, Monday to Thursday, all three groups will come together for a moderated Q&A discussions with prominent authors.

3.30pm – 4.30pm Q&A with Guest Author or Editor

Writers and facilitators include Colette Bryce, Wendy Erskine, Brian Dillon, Martina Evans, Arnold Thomas Fanning, Mia Gallagher, Caelainn Hogan, Roisin Kiberd, Fran Lock, Danielle McLaughlin, Sean O’Reilly and Stephen Sexton. Throughout the week, an additional writer will be assigned to each group: Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe (poetry); Ian Maleney (non-fiction); and Thomas Morris (fiction). These three writers will be the main point of contact for group members during the summer school.

On Friday morning, the three groups will come together with guest writers to review the week and to discuss the importance of reading. This will be followed by a ‘Meet the Editors’ panel event on Friday afternoon, in which Stinging Fly editors, past and present, discuss their experiences and answer participants’ questions.

Group Membership Fees: €120

Early Bird Rate: €100 (available until July 3rd)

Unwaged Rate: €60 (5 places are available at this rate on a first come first served basis.)