Gary Finnegan - writer
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finnegag.bsky.social
Gary Finnegan - writer
@finnegag.bsky.social
590 followers 680 following 41 posts
Fiction: Litro, Howl, Bull, The London Magazine, Ogham Stone, Ropes, Flash Fiction Mag...
2x Pushcart Prize noms 2025
Non-fiction: Beijing for Beginners (Liffey Press)
Journalism: lots; 3x Irish winner of EU Health Prize/Journalism
Novel in progress
Posts Replies Media Videos
finnegag.bsky.social
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
September 19, 2025 at 12:35 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
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...
September 14, 2025 at 9:12 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
Thanks a million, Gill!

Very glad you enjoyed it 🙏
quickasaflash.bsky.social Gill O'Halloran @quickasaflash.bsky.social · Sep 9
Two lifelong friends party together. With skilful foreshadowing @finnegag.bsky.social establishes a growing unease as their differences start to show, suggesting disaster is on the horizon. Great story!
emilyrinkema.bsky.social Emily Rinkema @emilyrinkema.bsky.social · Aug 31
Wow, @finnegag.bsky.social, what an incredible winning story in @frazzledlit.bsky.social! The voice and the building tension and the way you let us realize what has happened before the narrator...so good. www.frazzledlit.com/p/limbo-nights
September 9, 2025 at 10:19 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
Very happy to be included and grateful for all the promotional effort Frazzled Lit makes to promote its writers 💥
frazzledlit.bsky.social Frazzled Lit *Closed* @frazzledlit.bsky.social · Sep 2
Highlighting our competition winner and the headliner of Issue 3: Gary Finnegan @finnegag.bsky.social
with his story Limbo Nights.

Delighted to have this wonderful writer as Frazzled Family!

open.substack.com/pub/authorjm...
Limbo Nights
By Gary Finnegan (Winner - 1st Place)
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Gary Finnegan - writer
jmcm.bsky.social
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...
Gary Finnegan - In Conversation
Winner of the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2025
www.frazzledlit.com
August 30, 2025 at 11:39 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
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 🙏
frazzledlit.bsky.social Frazzled Lit *Closed* @frazzledlit.bsky.social · Aug 10
So pleased to announce the winners of the first Frazzled Lit Short Story Award!

Absolutely delighted with the support of this community for our mag and our writers.

Thanks again to all who entered and made this possible.

We 💛 you! 🥓 🥓 🥓
www.frazzledlit.com/p/announcing...
Announcing the WINNERS!
Selected by our judge, Nuala O'Connor
www.frazzledlit.com
August 11, 2025 at 11:04 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
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.
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.
July 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
Nice to win second prize in the Southword Subscribers Flash Fiction contest

Thanks @munsterlitcentre.bsky.social
June 13, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Gary Finnegan - writer
jmcm.bsky.social
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...
Gary Finnegan
Life as a 'late emerging' writer
www.creativecommunitysessions.com
May 21, 2025 at 9:31 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
Brilliant! Well done Chris - great to see
chriscottom.bsky.social Chris Cottom @chriscottom.bsky.social · Apr 14
So pleased to appear in @fictivedream.bsky.social today, long a dream journal of mine. Thanks to @raecowie.bsky.social, @finnegag.bsky.social and @yalanchang.bsky.social for their help with this one.
fictivedream.bsky.social Fictive Dream @fictivedream.bsky.social · Apr 14
As part of MicroMonday #2 today we're featuring "Both of us were sons of unnamed dads of unknown whereabouts" by @chriscottom.bsky.social. Please follow the link and enjoy this tiny gem #microfiction #MicroMonday fictivedream.com/2025/04/14/m...
April 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Gary Finnegan - writer
maynoothenglish.bsky.social
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
Writer in Residence, Department of English, Kildare County Council Library & Arts Services, Maynooth University | University Vacancies IrelandUniversity Vacancies Logo
universityvacancies.com
April 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
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...
New Irish Writing: In Common Calamity by Gary Finnegan
Auntie June milks my tea, hands it over, says “Mind now, Liam, that’s hot”.
m.independent.ie
March 31, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Gary Finnegan - writer
maynoothenglish.bsky.social
Massive congrats to our MA CW graduate @finnegag.bsky.social, who's going from strength to strength with publications and prize listings! 👏 ⭐ @maynoothuniversity.ie
March 7, 2025 at 12:24 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
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
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...
www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk
March 6, 2025 at 11:53 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
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-...
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...
www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk
February 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
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...
Found. A Medic’s Guide to Moral Calculus.
bendinggenres.com
February 12, 2025 at 11:16 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
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
February 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
4-minute fiction

roifaineantarchive.wixsite.com/rf-arc-hive/...
January 27, 2025 at 8:42 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
Nice to be on the shortlist for the Fusilli Writing competition

🤞
Short list for Fusilli writing contest
January 23, 2025 at 10:37 AM
finnegag.bsky.social
This one, from The Phare, was published last month.

***

The posters began appearing in June on lampposts and billboards visible from the main road:

‘Come home, we love you, Mum.’

***

www.thephare.com/posterchild
Poster Child | Phare
www.thephare.com
January 14, 2025 at 2:24 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
"She was our queen to be protected.
She was an enemy, bent on our destruction."

www.roifaineantpress.com/post/in-the-...
Thanks @rfpress.bsky.social ❤️
"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 cot, inhaling her second-hand air; it did us no good, but we didn’t care.  Brought us closer together.  Us. You and me and her.  She was our queen to be protected. She was an enemy, bent on our destruction. I made a ‘T’ sign with my index fingers. You smiled, and we tip-toed to the kitchen, weary and
www.roifaineantpress.com
December 29, 2024 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Gary Finnegan - writer
rfpress.bsky.social
Happy Christmas to all who celebrate! Happy Hannukah to those who celebrate! Happiest Wednesday in Winter to those who do not! Enjoy this bite of something from the heart “In the Heat of the Trenches (of Early Parenthood)” by @finnegag.bsky.social from our 80th out 12/29!
She was doing her magic trick: breathing in through her chestnut nose, swelling and deflating.
December 25, 2024 at 3:23 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
It's been a wild week. Had a piece rejected, missed out on a longlist I kinda fancied, and was nominated for a Pushcart for a short story

Then: nominated for a second Pushcart by Flash Fiction Magazine for a shorter piece

(This writing) Life is a rollercoaster - as Ronan Keating once noted
November 28, 2024 at 1:11 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
The lovely editors at Howl have nominated me for the @pushcartprize.bsky.social and I'll never forget it! 🙏
November 26, 2024 at 1:19 PM
finnegag.bsky.social
Some days, you think you're doing this writing thing all wrong and may never get it right

Some days, a publication you love gets in touch to say they like something you've submitted and would like to publish it

Today is a good day

thelondonmagazine.org/fiction-afte...
February 26, 2024 at 1:48 PM