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Leila Essa @leilaessai.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

I love this essay so so much (Sophie Corser in @thepigsback.bsky.social)

An open copy of issue 7 of literary magazine The Pig’s Back. First page of the essay “No Need to Respond” by Sophie Corser:

“Not long ago, I travelled from the UK to Northampton, Massachusetts, to look at over sixty folders full of fanmail. Alison Bechdel-American cartoonist, creator of the Bechdel test, and author of three graphic memoirs and the comic series Dykes to Watch Out For-has given Smith College Libraries hundreds of letters from her fans, received between 1984 and 2021. So, I spent a week with Bechdel's readers.

Bechdel invites fanmail: on her long-running blog she still lists a PO box address and states she's happy to receive snail-mail. For a time she sold artwork to her fans directly via mail, and by her own admission was once seduced by a fan's letter. But I didn't go to Massachusetts to learn more about Bechdel. I went to think about, or imagine, a community of readers. A kind of collective reception.

I made the trip at quite a difficult time. It was the last week of May 2023, and I was apprehensive about the months to come. Early June”

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Raven Books @ravenbooks.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Now in stock!

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Sonya Gildea @sonyagildea.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

The Pig's Back Dublin Launch ISSUE # 7 @booksupstairs.bsky.social last night with @thepigsback.bsky.social co-editors Dean Fee & Emily Cooper. Hosted by Louisa of Books Upstairs, With celebratory readings from Issue #7 and # 6💫

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Leila Essa @leilaessai.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Ordered @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and @johannawinant.bsky.social’s freshly published Close Reading for the 21st Century to our library and pre-ordered next issue of @thepigsback.bsky.social (with an essay by Sophie Corser!!) - great day for anticipatory reading joy www.thepigsback.ie/shop/p/issue...

thepigsback.ie

Issue Seven — The Pig's Back

Featuring writing from Sophie Corser, Wendy Erskine, Rosa Mäkelä, Dara McWade, Laura Morris, Nicole Morris and Odrán Waldron.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Subscribe to The Pig's Back and receive two issues every 12 months. www.thepigsback.ie/shop/p/12-mo...

thepigsback.ie

subscription — The Pig's Back

subscription

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Issue Seven of The Pig's Back is now available for pre-order. Featuring new writing from Sophie Corser, Wendy Erskine, Rosa Mäkelä, Dara McWade, Laura Morris, Nicole Morris and Odrán Waldron.

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Tim Groenland @groenbot.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

The inaugural Dublin Small Press Fair is happening at the end of November! 30+ presses, events, readings, and more. Organised by me and @eireannmor.bsky.social. More information coming very soon - follow @dublinsmpressfair.bsky.social for updates

Flyer for the Dublin Small Press Fair, 28/29 November, Pearse Steeet Library

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

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 🐽

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

🐷 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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

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

thepigsback.ie

shop — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

"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

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

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

thepigsback.ie

shop — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

"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

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

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."

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

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

thepigsback.ie

shop — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

"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

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Tim Groenland @groenbot.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

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

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

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

thepigsback.ie

shop — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

"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.

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Banshee Press @bansheepress.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

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...

bansheepress.org

Issue 19 | Spring/Summer 2025 — Banshee Press

128 pages ISSN: 2009-857X ISBN: 978-1-917161-17-6

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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

thepigsback.ie

shop — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

'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

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

"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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

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

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

🐷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

thepigsback.ie

Submit — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

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...

thepigsback.ie

subscription — The Pig's Back

subscription

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

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.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

"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."

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

🐷SUBMISSIONS 🐷 The submission window for our next issue will open between the 15th and the 30th April. We're looking for your best essays and short fiction. Please read the guidelines before submitting. thepigsback.ie/submit

thepigsback.ie

Submit — The Pig's Back

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Máiréad Enright @maireadenright.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

I was lucky enough to participate in this last year, and would recommend it to anyone. (One of the pieces I workshopped is coming out in the new @thepigsback.bsky.social, and the open supportive atmosphere Arnold created helped give me the confidence to submit it. So now.).

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Order one for yourself or better yet, buy a subscription and get two issues a year. 🐷thepigsback.ie/shop

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

🐷 Issue Six 🐷 is back from the printers and will be dropping in through letterboxes and into the best bookshops in the next few days. Featuring new work from Emily Iseult Duggan, Máiréad Enright, Laura Fitzgerald, Sam Furlong, Kerry Mahony, Kathy Stevens and Paul Whyte.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Issue Six of The Pig's Back is now available for pre-order. Featuring essays and fiction from Emily Iseult Duggan, Máiréad Enright (@maireadenright.bsky.social), Laura Fitzgerald, Sam Furlong (@samfurlong.bsky.social), Kerry Mahony, Kathy Stevens (@kathystevens91.bsky.social) and Paul Whyte.🐷 Link 👇

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Morgan L. Ventura (they/she) @morganvl.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

We love to see it @samfurlong.bsky.social 🐷 💚 🔥

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Máiréad Enright @maireadenright.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Very pleased about this.

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Subscribe to The Pig's Back and receive two issues every 12 months. www.thepigsback.ie/shop/p/12-mo...

thepigsback.ie

subscription — The Pig's Back

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The Pig's Back @thepigsback.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Beautifully designed by Patrick Fisher at Frontwards Designs and produced by @culturalcentre.bsky.social Our thanks as always to the Arts Council of Ireland.

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