…wherever you are, whatever deity you may or may not believe in, do your best to be nice to each other. At least until the Monopoly board comes out.

Bem, aqui estão mais algumas novidades: a partir de janeiro, vou abrir uma nova filial do Wordplay Writers Club em Alvaiázere, juntamente com o Jim, um dos membros fundadores do clube e um tipo simpático em todos os aspetos (além de ser um escritor fantástico!).

Well, here’s some more news - from January 2026, I’m going to be opening a new branch of the Wordplay Writers Club in Alvaiázere together with Jim, one of the founder members of the Club, and all-round nice bloke (he’s also one hell of a writer)!

In this chapbook, Dave Kurley may be the narrator describing something that really happened to him as a kid. He could be retelling a tale he heard about someone he went to school with. Perhaps he’s writing a poetic narrative with an imaginary protagonist to explore an actual occurrence in his past, and maybe make sense of it.

It’s the first of December - officially the start of the inevitable and inexorable build-up to Christmas (unless you work in a supermarket, in which case you’ve probably been stocking the shelves with crackers and wrapping paper since September), so I thought I’d take this opportunity to share a few things with you.

If you would like a copy of Writhing: An Anthology, please message me on here, and I’ll get back to you. The book costs €8, plus postage and packaging.

This Saturday (22/11/25), if you’re anywhere near Caldas da Rainha, central Portugal - why not come to a book launch at the Palco Café, Centro Cultural e Congressos? 6 pm start.

My stuff has been longlisted three times for the erbacce-poetry prize - in 2022 I was fortunate enough to have the poems I’d entered into that year’s competition included in their journal.

Now they’re here for you to read.

In the nineteen seventies, a couple of misfit kids in a northern English town get themselves into the sort of trouble that the adults around them think they can resolve. It doesn’t work out well, for either of them. Twenty years later, a young soldier falls in love, quite unexpectedly, with a young woman. The consequences of this romance will haunt all four of them.

No fanfare - just my first blog post.