Mentoring & workshops

I am the author of two books of stories: We Don’t Know What We’re Doing (2015) and Open Up (2023), both published by Faber & Faber.

My awards include the Wales Book of the Year, The Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award, and a Somerset Maugham Award. In 2023, I was named as one of the 20 Best Young British Novelists by Granta magazine. My work has been shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize; and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Sunday Times Short Story Award. My books have been chosen as a Book of the Year by The Guardian, The Observer, The Spectator, The Irish Times, and The Irish Independent. 

Stories of mine have been published, anthologised, and broadcast in venues including: The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story; Best European Fiction; Zoetrope; Granta; and BBC Radio 4.

An Italian-language edition of Open Up will be published by Edizione Sur in February 2026. A French edition is forthcoming in 2027.

I have worked professionally in publishing since 2009, beginning my career at the Lilliput Press.

As an editor and mentor, I have worked on stories and books by authors including Nicole Flattery, Rebecca Ivory, Michael Magee, and Chetna Maroo.

For twelve years, I worked at The Stinging Fly, in many capacities, including two years as Editor of the magazine. The Stinging Fly has an open submissions policy – anyone can submit work to the magazine, and it’s from these submissions that the magazine puts together each issue. During my editorship, I read thousands of short stories and worked with hundreds of writers. It was a privilege to read all this fiction and poetry, and to edit and nurture so many superb writers – a number of whom have since gone on to publish books of their own.

In later years, I became Editor at Large and ran the Stinging Fly Writer Development Programme, where I mentored a number of writers working towards their first books. During this time, I was also commissioning and editing fiction, essays, and literary criticism.

Nowadays I work with writers on a freelance basis and through state-funded initiatives such as the National Mentoring Programme.

A fuller account of my editing and publishing experience is available here.

As a teacher and facilitator, I have delivered workshops, talks and seminars at universities across Ireland and the UK, including University College Cork where I taught on the MA in Creative Writing. I have also taught and given talks for institutions and organisations such as The Irish Writers Centre, The Faber Academy, The Stinging Fly, and The Arvon Foundation.