The Ten by Ten Workshop (presented by the Irish Writers Centre and The Stinging Fly)

We are thrilled to announce The Ten by Ten Workshop, a new Saturday in-person workshop for fiction writers organised jointly by The Stinging Fly and The Irish Writers Centre (March – May 2025). The workshop will be led by Nicole Flattery and Cathy Sweeney. Deadline to apply is Monday 10 Feb 2025 at 5pm. 

The Ten by Ten Workshop will provide a group of ten writers the opportunity to push forward with their writing over ten Saturdays. The Stinging Fly and The Irish Writers Centre want to enable the ten selected writers to develop their craft and engage more deeply with their work while working with a group of like-minded and similarly motivated individuals. Ideally this workshop is intended for writers already embarked on a specific fiction project, be that a short-story collection or a novel.

The workshop will run in the Irish Writers Centre on Saturday mornings from mid-March until the end of May 2025. Anyone applying must be available to attend all ten workshop sessions.

Each week two participants will submit works in progress (a draft of a short story or novel excerpt) to the rest of the group. All work will be shared in advance and closely read by the workshop leader and the other participants. Each participant will have two pieces of work read and discussed by the group over the course of the ten weeks.

In addition to the morning workshop sessions, participants on the Ten by Ten Workshop will be invited to attend two specially programmed Saturday afternoon events at the Irish Writers Centre during the workshop’s run. Further details for these will follow.

Full details here and how to apply here. 

Meet the Workshop Leaders

Nicole Flattery (left) is a writer and critic. Her work has appeared in the London Review of Books, The Stinging Fly and Granta, amongst others. Her story collection, Show Them a Good Time, was published in 2019 and novel, Nothing Special, was published in 2023.

Cathy Sweeney (right) is a writer living in Wexford. Her collection of short stories, Modern Times, was published by The Stinging Fly Press and by W&N in 2020 . Her debut novel, Breakdown, was published by W&N in January 2024.