Cover Design: Fergal Condon
These Are Our
Lives
Stories
Edited by Declan Meade
First published in July 2006 as a special issue in book form of The Stinging Fly (Issue 4 Volume Two)
Reprinted in September 2008
These are our lives. I can't get over it.
- Maeve Brennan in a note to her New Yorker
editor and colleague, William Maxwell.
Stories by:
David Albahari, Kevin Barry, Maria Behan, Jennifer Brady, David Butler, Maile Chapman, Ronan Doyle, Antonia Hart, Claire Keegan, David Lewis, Toby Litt, Roisin McDermott, Martin Malone, Kathleen Murray, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Mary O'Donoghue, Aiden O'Reilly, Colin O'Sullivan, Kevin Power, Mick Rainsford and John Saul.
Read the editor's introduction and see our photos of the launch party .
Our first anthology, published to widespread acclaim in 2006 and reprinted in 2008 to coincide with the publication of Let's Be Alone together. Featured writers include David Albahari, Kevin Barry, Claire Keegan, Toby Litt, Martin Malone, Nuala Ní Chonchúir and Philip Ó Ceallaigh alongside a host of the finest new writing talent.
| Paperback 203 pages €12.00 ISBN 0-9550152-2-7 |
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Reviews & comment
I'd love to say that the stories in These Are Our Lives are edgy or provocative or somehow cool, but all I see is the passion. The contributors have a roaring want: to write, to tell the truth, to be heard. Read them.
Anne Enright
Certainly the editor of this collection is aware of the short story's endless possibilities in the contemporary moment. . . a celebration of new voices in fiction, sprinkled, too, with some more established names. . . a collection worth having.
- Derek Hand, The Irish Times in their full-length review.
a handsomely designed book that is in no way let down by its content. . . a freshness, urgency and lightness of touch that suggests the future of the Irish short story is looking particularly rosy.
- Dublin's Metro newspaper, giving it a a 4 star review and naming it their Book of the Week
. . . elegant, attractively packaged collection . . . Featuring 22 new short stories for €12, it offers superior value and grittier, more modern fare than Picador's recently published Shots collection.
Ronan Browne giving a brief mention in VILLAGE magazine
Most collections are uneven in content: usually, a couple of very
good pieces, the bulk moderate, and perhaps a few very weak stories.
The present volume is not like that, however. The short fictions are
uniformly good, the writing taut and to the
point. . . These are stories engrained in the Celtic Tiger... as up to
date as an SSIA. . . Impossible to mention all the stories, but a word
for The Stinging Fly people for such a riveting collection.
The Irish Examiner
This is an excellent group of stories and the level and quality of writing is stellar. Other equally talented writers included are, Antonia Hart, Philip O Ceallaigh, Roisin McDermott, David Albahari, Kevin Power, Martin Malone, Maria Behan, Toby Litt, Mick Rainsford and Kathleen Murray. Declan Meade has done a superb editing job in both selecting the stories themselves and their placement. They flow seamlessly, one to the next as the book fairly reads itself.
Something has to be said for longevity -- the first issue appeared in 1998 and here, looking down the barrel at 2007 approaching, 'The Stinging Fly' is still doing it and doing it well. There is a lot of dodgy work these days that passes for what's called 'new writing' but Meade and 'The Fly' have found only the best and continue to do so.
I think that Meade and 'The Stinging Fly' have succeeded and admirably.
Something has to be said for longevity -- the first issue appeared in 1998 and here, looking down the barrel at 2007 approaching, 'The Stinging Fly' is still doing it and doing it well. There is a lot of dodgy work these days that passes for what's called 'new writing' but Meade and 'The Fly' have found only the best and continue to do so.
I think that Meade and 'The Stinging Fly' have succeeded and admirably.
Writer and critic Laura Hird maintains one of the UK's best-known websites on new writing. Marc Goldin took a look at the anthology, and closes with some general remarks on The Stinging Fly magazine. Read it in full
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