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 numerous venues, including: The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story; Best European Fiction; Zoetrope; Granta; BBC Radio 4; The Stinging Fly; and most recently in Italian translation in Il Rifugio dell'Ircocervo.

Working with writers is genuinely one of the greatest joys of my life. As an editor and a mentor, I have been proud to work on stories and books by authors including Nicole Flattery, Rebecca Ivory, Michael Magee, and Chetna Maroo. 

For over a decade I worked at The Stinging Fly. As Editor, I read up to 1000 stories a year, selecting and editing this work for publication in the magazine. As Editor at Large, I commissioned and edited reviews, essays, and short stories, and ran the Stinging Fly Writer Development Programme, where I mentored a number of authors working towards their first books. 

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

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.