Octomum by Patrick Eades: third in The Moth Short Story Prize 2026
Judge Wendy Erskine: ‘Inventive, funny and a total delight, Octomum deals with loss in its own inimitable way’
Judge Wendy Erskine: ‘Inventive, funny and a total delight, Octomum deals with loss in its own inimitable way’
Prize judge Wendy Erskine: ‘Now this is what I call a love story. Tomorrow is humane, adult and very affecting’
Judge Wendy Erskine said: ‘This is a mesmerising story told in a tender, unhurried way by a poised and talented writer. It’s poetic and has a beautiful toughness’
The Shoulder by Jeffrey-Michael Kane winner of The Moth Short Story Prize 2026
The Hero is an original short story by Abbie Spallen
Summer fiction: 221 Violet Punk is a new short story by Caragh Maxwell, author of Sugartown
Finders, Seekers is an original short story by Neil Tully, author of acclaimed debut novel The Visit
Amateur Breeders is a new short story by Alice Ryan
Bread Is Bad for Ducks is a new short story by Elaine Garvey, author of The Wardrobe Department
Fox Wedding is a new short story by Leonard and Hungry Paul author Rónán Hession
Christmas Number One, a short story from the award-winning Greek-Irish author Soula Emmanuel
Lucy Caldwell celebrates the undervalued art of the short story
The Moth Short Story Prize 2025 judge Evie Wyld awarded this third prize
The runner-up in this year’s Moth Short Story Prize, chosen by judge Evie Wyld
Clare Roche wins prize, with Martha Sprackland second and Shelley Hastings third
This week’s story is the winner of the Moth Short Story Prize 2025
Sandra Kavanagh’s narrator Margo is tormented while out shopping in Belfast
Goodness, Gertie, wasn’t that something? says Rose, wiping her trousers. Isn’t that a story to tell in St Teresa’s?
Maggie Armstrong has been shortlisted at the Irish Book Awards for Short Story of the Year and Newcomer of the Year
The third-placed story in this year’s The Moth Short Story Prize, chosen by Louise Kennedy
The runner-up in this year’s The Moth Short Story Prize, chosen by Louise Kennedy
This story, which won The Moth Short Story Prize, is chosen by Louise Kennedy
We got work in the fish factory in Lerwick. We could stay in the row of broken-down wooden prefabs behind it
Silvia had always said she would like to write. ‘This is your chance,’ her husband had said. ‘Write a bestseller. Make me a millionaire’
Summer Fiction: Griffin had successfully presented the calling-in of another man’s labour as a thing responsible fathers did
An Irish couple’s encounter with another pair on holiday proves awkward
Life, even on a glorious day, did not stretch out enticingly before Holly. It seemed instead a grey corridor, strewn with dangers
Libby B Bushell’s story viscerally captures the fishing industry’s grim reality in her native Alaska
Jan approached the meat counter. I wouldn’t hold out much hope, the butcher said. Did she detect a smirk?
Read this moving story awarded second prize by Ottessa Moshfesgh in The Moth Short Story Prize
The winner of the £3,000 Moth Short Story competition 2023, chosen by author Ottessa Moshfegh
A middle-aged writer on holiday with his younger wife has more than the threat of jellyfish troubling him
Summer fiction: End of the Line by Michael J Farrell
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices