RTÉ SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2024: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED 

IMPRESSIVE STORIES EXPLORING HUMAN CONNECTION SHOW WEALTH OF WRITING TALENT IN IRELAND 

WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT SPECIAL AWARDS EVENT ON FRIDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 

BROADCAST ON RTÉ RADIO 1’S ARENA ON MONDAY 2ND DECEMBER (7PM) 

DETAILS: www.rte.ie/writing 

TICKETS: https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/arenalive 

FOLLOW: #rteshortstory 

RTÉ has announced details of the ten exciting new stories which have been shortlisted for the RTÉ Short Story Competition 2024 in honour of Francis MacManus, from close to 1,500 entries submitted. 

The judges were writers Neil Hegarty, Claire Kilroy and Kathleen MacMahon. 

The shortlisted stories, in alphabetical order by story title are: 

• Artifice, by Sharon Guard 

• Chambermaid, by Fiona O’Connor 

• Dead Bait, by Mattie Brennan 

• Dessie and Hopper, by Susanne Stich 

• Divination, by Stephen O’Reilly 

• Once Upon an Algorithm, by Ryan Delaney 

• Planning the Leftovers, by Sheila Barrett 

• The Other Órla, by Emer O’Toole 

• The Rehearsal, by Alexis MacIsaac 

• Turncoat, by David Ralph 

***Information about the writers and their stories are included in the NOTES below, along with the RTÉ Radio 1 broadcast schedule. 

Neil Hegarty, who joined the judging panel this year said: “I’m deeply impressed by the entries submitted this year. Quite simply, it’s so heartening to see the sheer quality of writing on display. I’m also struck by how these stories track emotional lives in all their variety and complexity: art acts as a barometer of society, of course, but it seems to me that the RTE Short Story Competition in particular truly mirrors the preoccupations of our society in the here and now.”  

Fellow judge Claire Kilroy added: “There were several recurrent themes: grief, sexual politics and the differences between male and female worlds…”  

Judge Kathleen MacMahon commented that: “human connection was the subject of almost every story we read this year – the need for it, the obstacles to it. In exploring this fundamental theme, this year’s Francis Mac Manus finalists showed us once again the wealth of writing talent that exists in Ireland and the ever-renewing energy to explore the landscape of our lives through words.” 

All ten stories will be published on rte.ie/culture on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November, and broadcast (read by actors) over the course of the following two weeks, from Monday 18th November on RTÉ Radio 1’s Late Date.  They’ll also be featured regularly on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena in advance of the awards event – an RTÉ Radio 1 Arena special programme, presented by Seán Rocks – at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, at 7pm on Friday 29th November, which all the shortlisted writers are invited to attend. The event will feature readings of extracts from all ten shortlisted stories, each followed by a discussion with all three judges before they award their top prizes.  

The winning writer will receive €5,000, while the second and third placed writers will receive €4,000 and €3,000 respectively. All seven runners-up will receive €250 each. 

The RTÉ Radio 1 Arena special will be broadcast at 7pm on Monday 2nd December 2024. 

Tickets for that event are now on sale here 

Sarah Binchy, series producer said: “This is another delightfully fresh and varied clutch of stories, with great talent and verve on display from this year’s writers. We’re looking forward to sharing the stories on rte.ie/culture, on air and on podcast, voiced by some of Ireland’s finest actors — and gathering in person with the judges, writers and audience members to award the top prizes as part of the Arena short story finale in the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on Friday 29th November.” 

Set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, the RTÉ Short Story Competition has been a critically important launch pad for new and emerging writers in Ireland. Past winners and shortlisted writers include Claire Keegan, Molly McCloskey, Danielle McLaughlin, Anthony Glavin, Chris Binchy, Nuala O’Connor, Liz Nugent, Colin Walsh, Stephen Walsh, Austin Duffy and Sarah Gilmartin. 

The RTÉ Short Story Competition is free to enter, and open to any writer over 18 living on the island of Ireland, or living abroad who holds an Irish passport. Details of next year’s competition will be announced in early 2025. For more on the RTÉ Short Story Competition, see www.rte.ie/writing.   

ENDS 

For information: Neil O’Gorman, Corporate Communications Manager, RTÉ | E: neil.ogorman@rte.ie  

NOTES TO EDITORS 

ABOUT THE WRITERS AND STORIES (Alphabetical order by writer’s first name) 

ALEXIS MACISAAC (Irish Canadian, living in Ottawa) 

Alexis MacIsaac is a dual Irish Canadian citizen whose writing has been featured in Masks Literary Magazine (2023 story award winner), The Bookends Review, and Agnes and True, among others. She previously toured as a musician with Irish shows Riverdance and The High Kings. Now, she works in the civil service in Domestic Oceans Policy and lives in Ottawa with her husband, Calum, and two sons, Cillian and Rafferty. She is currently working on her first novel.  

The Rehearsal 

“This story is meant to be read as a kind of Rorschach test. In particular, I wanted to explore how men and women can sometimes view the world very differently, and how this difference in perception often exposes the tenuousness of human connection.” 

DAVID RALPH (Tipperary, living in Dublin) 

David Ralph is originally from Tipperary and now lives in Dublin. His stories and essays have been published in Dublin Review, Southword, Banshee, New Irish Writing, Litro, Fish Anthology, Channel. He won a New Irish Writing Award in 2020 and placed third in the 2022 Fish Memoir Prize. He works as an academic in Trinity College Dublin. 

Turncoat 

“Turncoat is about a man who has acted against his better nature, or simply followed it, and is now paying the consequences for his actions. I’ve seen dogs freaked out at people wearing Halloween costumes, barking, howling, yelping in fright. I wish I could say nothing whatsoever in this story’s origins is autobiographical.” 

EMER O’TOOLE (Galway, living in Montréal) 

Emer O’Toole is from Galway, and now lives in Montréal, where she teaches Irish theatre, film, and performance at Concordia University. She’s written lots of non-fiction, including academic and newspaper commentary. Her book Girls Will Be Girls (Orion: 2015), a funny, accessible introduction to gender theory, has been translated into six languages. Emer is new to writing fiction and is hoping to find a home for her recently completed first novel. 

The Other Órla 

“The Other Órla is about how we, as women, can make ourselves small to please others, and how bad that is for society. It is also a story about shame, about things we did when we were young that haunt us, about trying to live with past selves. The ending of the story landed in my head while I was taking a shower, and I worked backwards to find the characters, the context, and the narrative.” 

FIONA O’CONNOR (From Dublin, living in Kerry and London) 

Dubliner Fiona O’Connor divides her time between Co. Kerry and London. She has produced open air theatre at St John’s Mill, Beaufort, Co Kerry. Awards include a Hennessy Literary Award and Eamon Kelly Bursary. She is published in The Stinging Fly, The Lonely Crowd, Sublunary Editions, and Exacting Clam (forthcoming). She also writes occasional features for The Irish Times and The Morning Star. 

Chambermaid 

“Chambermaid is a romantic love story. When it is forbidden, love can reveal hidden sides to a person.” 

MATTIE BRENNAN (From Sligo, living in Clare) 

Mattie Brennan is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. His fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, Southword and has been shortlisted for several awards, including the Cúirt New Writing Prize and the Seán O’Faoláin International Short Story Competition. Originally from County Sligo, he now lives in County Clare. 

Dead Bait 

“The idea for this story came to me when I saw three men fishing at Doolin pier a few years ago at about 2am. I’d just finished working a shift nearby in McDermott’s bar, and I’d pulled up in my van to sleep there for the night. As I watched the lads cast, I thought to myself that there’s surely a story here somewhere. I initially envisioned writing a scene about three mates simply whiling away the time, but, like many stories, what I ended up with was far different from my original idea. When the various characters in this story presented themselves, I knew I had to follow a particular thread.” 

RYAN DELANEY (Irish Australian living in Edinburgh) 

Ryan is an Irish Australian currently living in Edinburgh. After years of writing screenplays that no one seemed very interested in, he turned his hand to prose writing during the pandemic, and this year is on a roll. His short story The Shadows Cast by the Moon won the international short story competition, The Hope Prize; his first novel-in-progress was chosen for development at The Stinging Fly Summer School at the Irish Writers Centre; and Franky Unbound, a humourous story about being the youngest in a big family was shortlisted in the All-Ireland Scholarship.  

Once Upon an Algorithm 

“Once Upon an Algorithm is a loosely biographical story that wrote itself in an afternoon, about a writer getting into a psychological struggle with a chatbot.” 

SHARON GUARD (Dublin) 

Sharon Guard is from, and still lives in, Dublin, where she works in the pharmaceutical industry. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick. Her work has appeared in New Irish Writing, SWERVE magazine, The Ogham Stone and Washing Windows. She won the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award in 2020 and her debut novel, Assembling Ailish, will be published by Poolbeg Press in February 2025. 

Artifice 

“I think there’s something fascinating about watching somebody watch their own reflection in a mirror,” Sharon says. “Particularly a person putting on makeup or getting their hair done, making decisions about what to show and what to hide from the world. What to show and to hide from themselves. Artifice is a story about coping, resilience, the everyday paralysis and propulsion of grief. The effort required to manifest hope.” 

SHEILA BARRETT (From Dallas, living in Dalkey) 

Sheila Barrett was born in Dallas, Texas. She moved to Dalkey with her husband, John Barrett, a homecoming Dub, in 1969, and is still in the same house. She has published two novels and a number of short stories. Her more recent writing is grounded in the realities – and drama -of family life. She is working on a novel. 

Planning the Leftovers 

“Planning the Leftovers coalesced from many sources, over time – the world’s shrinking and the new shapes of families – and the mix of loss and delight these can bring.” 

STEPHEN O’REILLY (Donegal, living in Galway) 

Raised in Donegal, Stephen O’Reilly lives near Craughwell, Co. Galway. His short stories have featured in numerous anthologies in Ireland and the UK. He is a previous recipient of a Molly Keane Memorial award, a HG Wells Short Story award and was also winner of the 2019 RTÉ Short Story competition.  

Divination 

“Time has a way of confounding your expectations. I wanted to write about that uncertainty and how a couple navigate the loss of an imagined future. The tension between faith and reason and the fragility of hope.” 

SUSANNE STICH (Inishowen, via Nürnberg) 

Susanne Stich grew up in Nürnberg and has lived in Inishowen for many years. Her creative work has involved writing, filmmaking and photography, but in recent years she has concentrated mostly on writing. Her work has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, The Pig’s Back, New Irish Writing, Ambit and other places. She was shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize and a finalist in the Irish Novel Fair. She holds an MA in Literature and Film Studies from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen, a PhD with creative practice from Ulster University, Belfast and has worked in the arts and educational sector as a lecturer, curator and facilitator. 

Dessie and Hopper 

“Dessie and Hopper started with an image of a cold flat, a middle-aged woman and two dogs she’s in some kind of dialogue with. Further details emerged over various drafts: the character’s poverty and self-hate, but also her background in art history, which paves the way for a chance encounter with another woman that turns out to be illuminating. I wanted to reflect on clashes between the personal and the political, and how for a large number of people, many of them women, these clashes shape the very core of their lives, but can be hard to articulate in isolation.” 

ABOUT THE BROADCAST SCHEDULE ABOUT THE 2024 SHORTLISTED STORIES  

• Monday 18 November: Planning the Leftovers, by Sheila Barrett, read by Bríd Ní Neachtain 

• Tues 19 November: Dead Bait, by Mattie Brennan, read by Aaron Monaghan 

• Wed 20 November: The Rehearsal, by Alexis MacIsaac, read by Tierra Porter 

• Thurs 21 November: The Other Órla, by Emer O’Toole, read by Elaine O’Dwyer 

• Fri 22 November: Once Upon an Algorithm, by Ryan Delaney, read by Peter Hanly 

• SAT 23 November – NO STORY 

• Sun 24 November: Chambermaid, by Fiona O’Connor, read by Janet Moran 

• Mon 25 November: Dessie and Hopper, by Susanne Stich, read by Ruth McGill 

• Tues 26 November: Turncoat, by David Ralph, read by Tadhg Murphy 

• Wed 27 November: Artifice, by Sharon Guard, read by Ali White 

• Thurs 28 November: Divination, by Stephen O’Reilly, read by Andrew Bennett