about david
Photo Phil Rigby Cumbria Life 2013
David Gaffney is the author of the novels Never Never (2008), All The Places I’ve Ever Lived (2017) and Out Of The Dark (2021), and the flash fiction and short story collections Sawn-Off Tales (2006), Aromabingo (2007), The Half-Life of Songs (2010) and More Sawn-Off Tales (2013). He has published two graphic novels with Dan Berry – The Three Rooms In Valerie’s Head (2018) and Rivers (2021) – and is working on a third. He has just published a chapbook, The Country Pub, with Nightjar Press, and this year publishes a new short story collection with Salt Publishing, Concrete Fields, and a pamphlet, Whale, with Osmosis Press.
“David Gaffney writes truly 21st century stories for a fragmented and fragmenting world; they’re short, snappy and utterly addictive”
Ian McMillan
David's next collection of short stories, Concrete Fields, is out in 2023 on Salt Publishing - haunting, funny stories that explore the theme of town versus country with a dark humour and a surreal spin.
David's new novel Out Of The Dark is out on Confingo in January 2022
You can order a copy here
David's new graphic novel with Dan Berry, Rivers, is out now on Top Shelf. It has also been optioned by HBO Max so watch this space!
David Gaffney comes from Cleator Moor in West Cumbria and now lives in Manchester. David is a prose writer with a specialism in short stories, particularly micro-fiction, and has published widely and collaborated with artists working in other art forms. David's first collection of short stories, Sawn-Off Tales, was published by Salt Publishing in 2006 to excellent critical response. His second collection, Aromabingo, was published in 2007, and his novel Never, Never was published in 2008 on Tindal Street Press with strong reviews in The Observer, The Guardian and The Independent. David's third collection, The Half Life Of Songs was published in 2011 and his latest collection, More Sawn-Off Tales, came out in 2013. His last novel, All The Places I've Ever Lived was an experimental work blending nonfiction and fiction, and had arts council funding support. It was launched in 2017 and was well received. His graphic novel with Dan Berry The Three Rooms In Valerie’s Head was published in 2018 and is currently being adapted by Warner Brothers for TV. His recent story Insight in Confingo's We Were Strangers anthology was critically acclaimed in many reviews and his story The Staring Man was included in the 2018 Best British Short Stories in SALT publishing.
David also works with literature in a live setting and on commissions, residencies, collaborations and in communities. He produced and delivered Buildings Crying Out, a story using lost cat posters (Lancaster LitFest 2009); 23 Stops To Hull, a set of stories about every junction on the M62 (Humber Mouth Literature Festival 2009); Sawn-off Opera, a set of operas with composer Ailís Ní Ríain (BBC Radio 3, RNCM, Liverpool Philharmonic and Tête a Tête festival London 2010); Destroy PowerPoint, stories in PowerPoint format for Edinburgh Festival 2009; The Poole Confessions, stories told in a mobile confessional box (Poole Literature Festival 2010); Station Stories, in which six writers linked to the audience with wireless headphones performed short stories in Manchester Piccadilly railway station (Manchester Literature Festival 2011); Boy You Turn Me, a sound installation (Birmingham Book Festival 2011); guerrilla writing project Errata Slips (Cornerhouse Manchester 2011), Preston 3twenty (2012-2032), a twenty-year arts and literature project, Men Who Like Women Who Smell of Their Jobs, (Manchester Literature Festival 2014) a visual art exhibition with painter Alison Erika Forde, and The Three Rooms In Valerie's Head, (Lakes Comic Art Festival 2015) a live graphic novel with artist Dan Berry and composer Sara Lowes.
He also delivered Fax Fiction for the Reflex festival (2019) Manchester, a literature project in which six writers responded to recent obsolete technology and performed live using these devices, Flash in The Van for Burnley Literature Festival ( 2019) and Mac Stories for Macclesfield LIT festival ( 2019) David was also artistic lead for Arts Council funded socially-engaged project PowerLines with Salford Welfare Rights. David delivers talks to creative writing students across the north at Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester, Bolton University, Chester University, Edge hill University, and others, he runs a popular 10 week short story course at Waterside Arts Centre, and teaches for Arvon too.
He has written articles for the Guardian, Sunday Times, Financial Times and Prospect magazine and was a judge for the 2015 Bridport prize.
David's new novel Out Of The Dark is out on Confingo in 2022 and his new graphic novel with Dan Berry, Rivers, is out now on Top Shelf.
Check out David's piece for The Guardian on how to write flash fiction here.
Check out this piece in Cumbria Life with some great pictures of David in Cleator Moor
David’s work has been published in a number of anthologies and magazines, from Aesthetica to Stand, and he has written articles for The Guardian, Sunday Times, Financial Times and Prospect.
publishing history
Sawn-Off Tales short story collection, Salt Publishing, 2006
Aromabingo short story collection, Salt Publishing, 2007
Never Never novel, Tindal Street Press, 2008
The Half-life Of Songs short story collection, Salt Publishing, 2010
More Sawn Off Tales, short story collection, Salt Publishing, 2013
All The Places I've Ever Lived, novel, Urbane publishing, 2017
The Three Rooms in Valerie's Head, graphic novel, Top Shelf, 2018
Rivers, graphic novel, Top Shelf 2021
Out Of The Dark, novel, Confingo 2022
Concrete Fields, short story collection, Salt Publishing 2023
“David Gaffney could well be the king of flash fiction writing right now”
Bookmunch
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