‘A Champion of Emerging Writers’: The Stinging Fly
By Kristin Heng Schanke
Edited by Jon McGregor
“We believe that engaging with literature can
– declan meade, founding editor and publisher of the stinging fly
add value to all our lives.”
Ever since its’ inception in 1997, the Dublin based magazine The Stinging Fly has been dedicated to seeking out, nurturing, publishing, and promoting new writers and new writing.
After its first print in 1998 under founders Aoife Kavangh and Declan Meade, the independent magazine has expanded to become a book publisher, education provider and online platform. The literary magazine prints an eclectic collection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with a notable focus on short stories.
Though there are only two issues of the print magazine yearly, with a few special editions every now and then, their online platform remains an active agent for writers all over, frequently publishing book reviews, podcasts, and a new fiction series. The magazine features award winning titles and authors, our very own editor Jon McGregor being among them. They display a true passion for not just new writing and new writers, but for the art of writing itself, providing fiction workshop programmes in association with the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin.
“Our purpose [is] to enrich lives and deepen
– the stinging fly
understanding through literature.”
With an eye for new talent and a focus on being a champion of emerging writers, it’s no wonder The Stinging Fly does indeed ‘remain at the heart of literary life in Ireland’. Author Lisa McInerney, newly appointed Editor of The Stinging Fly, states ‘The Stinging Fly has done so much for [her] in terms of creative development and inclusion – so much for so many of us.’.
We’ve gifted Sonya Moor a subscription to The Stinging Fly as a thank you for letting us publish her work in our latest edition. Sonya’s piece, which you can read by subscribing here, was a poignant postscript of a letter she addressed to the ‘Shaved Woman of Chartres’.
We have no doubt you will find something equally tender, personal, and evocative in a magazine whos’ vision is ‘of a world made more compassionate through literature’.
Enjoy your reading, Sonya!
The Letters Page team are back in the office, and ready to read your real letters again. We publish stories, essays, poems, memoir, reportage, criticism, recipes, travelogue, and any hybrid forms, so long as they come to us in the form of a letter. We are looking for writers of all nationalities and ages, both established and emerging.
Your letter must be sent in the post, to :
The Letters Page, School of English, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
See our submissions page for more information.
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