Who is Dave Kurley?
Kind of a bio
It’s hard to believe that I was born in Sheffield in 1962, but it’s true. I have been, at various times, an actor, a shop assistant, a singer, a dry stone waller, a playwright, a pub manager, a lyricist, a civil servant, a stand-up comedian, a call centre operative and a podcaster. Some of these jobs I loved, some of them not so much. Since 2016 I have lived in the slowly-beating heart of Portugal with my wife, The Lovely Ali, and a couple of cats, one called Risca, the other Alcaçuz. I write poetry and short stories there, take photographs and teach conversational English online, to students all over the world.
From January 2021 to October 2023, I wrote a poem every day and posted each one on Instagram and Facebook until I reached one thousand poems! After that, I felt I deserved a bit of a rest. Since then, I have reduced my output to maybe one or two per week. These days you’ll find me on Bluesky.
You’ll find lots of my stuff on the Lots of Stuff page, unsurprisingly.
Competitions
I Told You There Was a Wolf came third in the 2021 Slipstream poetry competition.
High Tide came third in the Hammond House 2023 International Literary Prize (Poetry section).
My work has been longlisted three times in the annual erbacce-poetry prize, and also in the 2024 Sheffield Authors Short Story Competition.
In Print
My first book of poems and photographs, Irritating the Silver Lining (2022, New Generation Publishing - ISBN: 978-1803694276), is available to order online from just about every bookseller.
My poetry has also been published on paper in Absent Ginsberg, the erbacce Poetry Journal, Krill Journal, Chewin’ the Fat Vol 2, New Contexts 7, Verseve Butterflies Anthology, and Grim Zine.
My work will also feature in Rites & Trials: Coming-of-Age Poetry, a Broken Spine publication, in December 2025.
Online
My stuff has been published by Stepping Stone Theatre, Glass Gates Publishing, Haus-a-Rest, Sixty-Odd Poets and The Starbeck Orion.
Music
You can hear me singing my lyrics with New Model Soldier, reciting Abundance with The Collaborators, and reciting Liar with The Idiot Society on Spotify or Apple Music.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my wife, The Lovely Ali, for putting up with me. Thank you to Bill and Kate (none of this would have happened without you) and all my mates at Stepping Stone Theatre. Thank you to Jazz and Jim and everyone at Wordplay Writers Club for being a constant source of inspiration and amazement. And thank you to anyone who’s bought my book (still got loads left - if you want one, message me), liked my poems on social media, or enjoyed my recitations at events here in Portugal.
Photo by Dixon Bordiano.
Contact me
If you would like to join my mailing list, or have some genuine praise or constructive criticism, maybe you’d like to publish my stuff, or if you just fancy a chat - drop me a line.