The Pig's Back

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Featuring amazing essays and short fiction from incredible writers such as Niamh Campbell, Darragh McCausland, Kevin Breathnach, Megan Nolan, Kathryn Scanlan, Roisin Kiberd and many more.

Not to be missed. Link below 🐽

🐷 End of Summer Sale 🐷

For the next week we have up to 30% off select back issues on our website. There are literally only 1 or 2 of some of these left. So if you’re short one to fill the set (so far), get yourself over to our website before they sell out for good.

You can read the rest of Paul's brilliant essay in our current issue. Available on our website or in select bookshops. www.thepigsback.ie/shop

Paul Whyte is a writer and Dad. His work has been published in The Moth, The Lonely Crowd, The Irish Examiner and more. In 2021 his debut novel 'Harrow the Boys' was published by Maverick House. He is currently editing his follow-up and working on an essay collection.

"I was seventeen years old, pale as pasta water and about to carry out what would become the most elaborate sting operation ever seen in the history of Xtra-Vision video rental, main street, Tipperary Town, Ireland."
— Dove Sta Memoria: My Brain on Video Games, Paul Whyte

You can read Kathy's fantastic story in our current issue. Available on our website or in select bookshops. thepigsback.ie/shop

Kathy Stevens is a short story writer from Stratford-upon-Avon, where she works as a butcher. Her stories have appeared in MIR, The Moth, and Granta. She is working on a collection.

"Peter had told me they couldn’t get you off the mountain—something about money, and you being too heavy. I didn’t get it. I remembered how he used to pick you up like you were a sack of potatoes."
— Snow White, Kathy Stevens

Our editor Emily is running an 8-week non-fiction editing course with the Irish Writer's Centre.

"Each week we will workshop the participants’ work-in-progress with a focus on peer feedback, editing and structure, with the aim of building self-editing skills."

You can read Kerry's excellent story in our current issue. Available on our website or in select bookshops. thepigsback.ie/shop

Kerry Mahony is a writer and creative based in Dublin. She has had prose published in Worms Magazine and Lesbian Art Circle and writes about art, design and culture for DJ Mag, Totally Dublin, Service95 and The GOO.

"The woman at reception smiles like nothing bad has ever happened to her. She leads us around the retreat centre with such pride that you would think she built it with her bare hands."
— Saturn Return, Kerry Mahony

Image for The Irish Itinerary Podcast Episode 60, Emily Cooper & Dean Fee in conversation with Tim Groenland. Additional info: In their conversation with Tim Groenland, Emily Cooper and Dean Fee discuss the origins of their literary journal, The Pig’s Back, designed as a Donegal-based journal with an international bent. They talk about creating not only an issue, but a beautiful object that stays in people’s minds; blurring fiction and non-fiction; bringing the many literary journals in Ireland together at the Journals Fleadh; and what being edited has thought them as writers and editors.

For the Irish Itinerary Podcast (@efacis.bsky.social), I had a fun chat with Dean Fee and Emily Cooper of @thepigsback.bsky.social about their editing of the magazine, Irish literary journals and the Journals Fleadh, and their own writing:
www.efacis.eu/podcast

You can read Sam's brilliant story in our current issue. Order now online or find it in select bookshops. thepigsback.ie/shop

Sam Furlong’s first book of poetry is forthcoming from Macha Press, and they are the poetry editor of The Frustrated Writer’s Group. They are writing a collection of short stories.

"Though Martin often watches home improvement shows and Netflix documentaries about bludgeoned women in bed on his laptop, he doesn’t believe there is any place for a television in an adult’s apartment."
— 'I could not have written this without you' by Sam Furlong.

Issue 19 | Spring/Summer 2025 — Banshee Press 128 pages ISSN: 2009-857X ISBN: 978-1-917161-17-6

Issue 19 (spring/summer 2025) is gone to print! View the contents and pre-order your copy at the link in bio 😎

bansheepress.org/shop/p/issue...

You can read Laura's hilarious story in our current issue. Order now online or find it in select bookshops. thepigsback.ie/shop

Laura Fitzgerald is a visual artist working in drawing, painting, installation, video, text and audio. Her writing has been published by PVA, Bog Bodies Press, Onomatopee, and Bloomers. She is currently working on a series of experimental short stories and poems.

'My father had said a lot of quotable things over his lifetime: 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑, or 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑. “None of these are head stone appropriate,” I said to him.'
— from Land Eats You by Laura Fitzgerald

"He thought Susan was a good girl, but foolish and in need of protection. He remembered her appearance on the day he arrested her: sweating, pale and aching in the septic ward of the Sparkhill Women’s Hospital."
— 'I am not going to punish you', Máiréad Enright.

You can read Máiréad's excellent essay in our current issue. Order now online or find it in select bookshops. thepigsback.ie/shop

Máiréad Enright grew up in Kerry and lives in Birmingham. She is a legal academic. This is her first published piece of creative non-fiction.

"He thought Susan was a good girl, but foolish and in need of protection. He remembered her appearance on the day he arrested her: sweating, pale and aching in the septic ward of the Sparkhill Women’s Hospital."
— 'I am not going to punish you', Máiréad Enright.

🐷SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN🐷

Send us your best essays and short fiction. Window closes at the end of the month and once again, please read the guidelines. thepigsback.ie/submit

subscription — The Pig's Back subscription

You can read Emily's story in full in Issue Six. Available on our website and in select bookshops. Subscribe now and receive two issues every 12 months. www.thepigsback.ie/shop/p/12-mo...

Emily Iseult Duggan lives in Donegal. An earlier version of 'Arabic Lessons' won the Cúirt New Writing Prize for Fiction in 2024. She is currently working on a collection of short fiction and a novel.

"I know that it's safer for children to walk to and from school in daylight; that there might be tear gas and harassment, but there are also witnesses. In the dark, it is more difficult to see, the soldiers and settlers are less watched and children can go missing."

Submissions open tomorrow!