Gary Finnegan - writer

It’s my house, the people are just passing through By Gary Finnegan First there was a couple who became a family of five before shrinking back to the original pair. They arrived in the 1950s and I was their favourite. We were all younger then, with…

Thanks to @moonparkreview.bsky.social for publishing this piece just before Christmas

POV: You're a tree with a few rings on your trunk
moonparkreview.com/issue-34-win... #flashfiction #creativewriting #writingcommunity

Great to see this, Chris!

Super story 👏

Shooter Flash: “Winter Camp” by Gary Finnegan The middle distance absorbed her gaze. Her sleeves, her nerves, frayed. Moths had chewed holes in the coats of the children; the children had eaten nothing for days. Days had been given to a journe…

Thanks to Shooter Lit Mag Editor Melanie White for choosing my story as the winner of the Shooter Flash Competition. I've been a Shooter fan for years.

Please read it if you've got two and a half minutes 👇

shooterlitmag.com/2025/11/17/s...

I re-read this (just published, thanks to @andrewcareaga.bsky.social ) and was reminded that I should really get on with the writing projects I said I was working on!

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Fiction #CreativeWriting

Good point - I'd better read the small print in case extreme acrobatics are involved!

Very grateful to have received an Arts Council Agility Award

As well as freeing me from some (less creative) work - giving me time to write, it is hugely encouraging to have this kind of endorsement

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and write the thing I said I'd write...

Thanks a million, Gill!

Very glad you enjoyed it 🙏

Very happy to be included and grateful for all the promotional effort Frazzled Lit makes to promote its writers 💥

Amy's Mom By Emily Rinkema (Winner - 3rd Place)

I've just read Amy's Mom - brilliant, from the incredible opening par to the final scab!

Amazing to get so much of these distinctive characters (and their moms!) in a short piece, as they cope with the unthinkable, growing up too fast

Also well worth a listen

www.frazzledlit.com/p/amys-mom

Gary Finnegan - In Conversation Winner of the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2025

Available now: my interview with Gary Finnegan @finnegag.bsky.social, winner of the Frazzled Lit @frazzledlit.bsky.social Short Story Award 2025!

You can read Gary’s story ‘Limbo Nights’ in Issue 3 of Frazzled Lit.

Issue 3 drops tomorrow morning!

www.frazzledlit.com/p/gary-finne...

Thanks Mizuki!

Absolutely delighted to have won the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award!

Could hardly believe it when I got the news - and am even more stunned having seen the other writers in the final shake-up. Looking forward to reading all the finalists when they are published

Eternal thanks to Frazzled 🙏

The view from a drawing room window of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in county Monaghan, Ireland. The Centre serves as an artists retreat for writers, visual artists, musicians, dancers and others.

The only downside about going to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre to write for a whole week...is that you have to come home and take out the bins and go to Tesco and decide what to put in the air fryer.

Amazing week. Thanks to Kildare County Council Arts Service for the Residency Bursary Award 2025.

Nice to win second prize in the Southword Subscribers Flash Fiction contest

Thanks @munsterlitcentre.bsky.social

Gary Finnegan Life as a 'late emerging' writer

I just posted our first recorded talk from our May event, Gary Finnegan @finnegag.bsky.social discussing his journey as a 'late emerging' writer. This is a thoroughly engaging talk, and a definite must-see!
www.creativecommunitysessions.com/p/gary-finne...

Still love it, Chris

Brilliant! Well done Chris - great to see

In partnership w/Kildare Library and Art Services, we're looking for a Writer-in-Residence for 2025-26: application deadline 4 May. Pls spread the word!
universityvacancies.com/maynooth-uni... @maynoothuniversity.ie @irishwriterscentre.bsky.social @molimuseum.bsky.social @irishlittimes.bsky.social

Thanks Oonagh! Much appreciated

New Irish Writing: In Common Calamity by Gary Finnegan Auntie June milks my tea, hands it over, says “Mind now, Liam, that’s hot”.

Delighted to have a story featured in the Irish Independent New Irish Writing pages last weekend

Also happy to have used "has an MA in creative writing from Maynooth University" in my bio for the first time - the ink is barely dry on the degree parchment!

m.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Thanks Jason!

Massive congrats to our MA CW graduate @finnegag.bsky.social, who's going from strength to strength with publications and prize listings! 👏 ⭐ @maynoothuniversity.ie

Gary Finnegan, London Independent Story Prize 3rd Round 2024 Finalist, 'The Soloist' London Independent Story Prize 3rd Round 2024 Finalist, 'The Soloist', Gary Finnegan - Can you please tell us about you and your daily life? I’m a journalist and editor, mostly working on health and m...

Very much appreciate how the London Independent Story Prize celebrates all finalists - looking forward to the launch of the anthology later in the year

www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk/post/gary-fi... #WritingCommunity #FlashFiction #WritingContests #ShortStory @maynoothenglish.bsky.social

London Independent Story Prize 3rd Round 2024 Winners and Finalists! London Independent Story Prize 3rd Round 2024 Winners and Finalists!The quantity of high-quality writing has never been greater!While congratulating our selected writers, we recognise the subjectivity...

Finalist (flash fiction category) - and very happy about it!

Looking forward to the launch of the anthology in London later in the year

www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk/post/london-...

Many thanks Matt - this one would not have happened without you and your guidance

Found. A Medic’s Guide to Moral Calculus.

I'm outside my comfort zone with this piece of flash, but where better to publish it than @BendingGenres.bsky.social ?

Thanks @rgvaughan.bsky.social

bendinggenres.com/found-a-medi...

First time entering @crankedanvil.bsky.social - very happy to be shortlisted

Congratulations to Chris & Laura - two worthy winners (both of whom have helped bring my own flash writing along over the past year or so)

Read their pieces!

@chriscottom.bsky.social @laurabesley.bsky.social

4-minute fiction

roifaineantarchive.wixsite.com/rf-arc-hive/...

"In the Heat of the Trenches (of Early Parenthood)" by Gary Finnegan How long had we been staring at her tiny body? Twenty seconds? Twenty minutes? She was doing her magic trick: breathing in through her chestnut nose, swelling and deflating. We were leaning over the c...

New link for this one roifaineantarchive.wixsite.com/rf-arc-hive/...

Short list for Fusilli writing contest

Nice to be on the shortlist for the Fusilli Writing competition

🤞