iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I am so excited to be part of this new anthology ‘We live among ruins, surrounded by places built for a future that never arrived.’ Brutalist Ghost Stories is an anthology inspired by Britain's brutalist buildings and landscapes. pre-order your copy here www.confingopublishing.uk/product-page...

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Fictive Dream @fictivedream.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

"Apparently, by the time a man is forty there are only two or three men he can describe as close friends." The Match by David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social #shortstory #TenYears #readingcommunity #writingcommunity. Please follow the link below and enjoy fictivedream.com/2026/06/28/t...

fictivedream.com

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

See these chairs? Aren't they amazing?These chairs are in the Ukrainian club in Rochdale and on 9 July 2026 you could be sitting on one of these chairs watching top flight authors reading specially commissioned new short stories on the theme of Rochdale. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/roch-tales...

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Hi all Be great if you can come to this event in the coolest venue in Greater Manchester - the Ukrainian Club in Rochdale www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/roch-tales... Please share everywhere!

eventbrite.co.uk

Roch-Tales - new short stories about Rochdale

Brand new specially commissioned stories about Rochdale, with a new sound installation by Maryanne Royle and open mike for local writers

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

My next scheduled event is just under five weeks away; head to the link for full details! Really looking forward to chatting about creating and craft with @ggaffa.bsky.social @nblascsok.bsky.social Jazmine Linklater and Tom Branfoot in this one-off! www.manchestercityofliterature.com/event/sarah-...

manchestercityofliterature.com

Sarah-Clare's Literary Salon - Manchester City of Literature

For Chorlton Arts Festival, writer, editor and critic Sarah-Clare Conlon will invite guests to share their work past, present and future, and chat about their practice and processes in poetry and prose. Get a peek behind...

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Look at this modernist gem. Smallbridge Library Rochdale. There’s a free short story workshop there in May - alongside six other workshops in six other libraries on Rochdale - you can book your places here www.eventbrite.com/cc/roch-tale... @rochdalelibrary @culturecoopuk @rochdale.creates

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Tom Jenks @tomjenksuk.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

A short piece about Manchester and poetry for @robmclennan.bsky.social and periodicities. The pictures, courtesy of David Gaffney, are from the above/ground press readings last week with me, @ggaffa.bsky.social and @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social at Saul Hay Gallery. bsky.app/profile/robm...

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Writers - check out these free workshops in Rochdale... www.eventbrite.com/cc/roch-tale... Please circulate.,..

eventbrite.com

Roch-Tales Free Creative writing workshops

Unleash the short story genius hidden inside you.

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

the free tickets for this are going fast….

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Trying to get back out there a bit more in 2026. Looking forward to this event at the end of next month. I read Lakes of Titan by David Gaffney in December and loved it. Hope to meet some people there! @ggaffa.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/abovegroun...

eventbrite.co.uk

above/ground book launch featuring David Gaffney, Lydia Unsworth, Tom Jenks

above/ground press present live poetry at Saul Hay Gallery with David Gaffney, Tom Jenks, and Lydia Unsworth - plus art and free wine!

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Ill be launching my latest pamphlet on Thursday 26 Feb at the amazing Saul Hay gallery. expect weird surreal readings from @lydiaunsworth.bsky.social @tomjenksuk.bsky.social and me - plus free wine (you'll need it) Free tickets here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1979710024...

eventbrite.co.uk

above/ground book launch featuring David Gaffney, Lydia Unsworth, Tom Jenks

above/ground press present live poetry at Saul Hay Gallery with David Gaffney, Tom Jenks, and Lydia Unsworth - plus art and free wine!

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

eventbrite.co.uk

above/ground book launch featuring David Gaffney, Lydia Unsworth, Tom Jenks

above/ground press present live poetry at Saul Hay Gallery with David Gaffney, Tom Jenks, and Lydia Unsworth - plus art and free wine!

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Kieran Wyatt @kieranstories.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

What a great piece of work by David Gaffney inspired by a long train journey and the hours before and after it. How many different minutes can you fit into an hour? I would really recommend getting this. And long live the Chuckle Brothers.

Lakes of Titan by David Gaffney, published this month by Above/Ground Press.

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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

This is the saddest day of my professional life.
Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage.
I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys.
I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show,
A show that I named and helped develop over all those years.
Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry.
These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter

In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices.
Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'.
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I chose the latter.
It broke my heart.
I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make.
I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer.
I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence.
One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career.

I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more.
I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost".
James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice.
Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences.
I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness.
Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire.
I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal.
I am so sorry to let you down.
I hope that you can understand my reasoning.
I have to accept that I am not what the current
BBC expects of their freelance presenters.

Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not
"just a job"
I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world.
From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too.
The strawberry is dead.
Long live the strawberry. B

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Out now! Lakes of Titan is a short pamphlet by me published by Above/Ground press You can order now at the knock down price of 5.00 david-gaffney.sumupstore.com/product/lake... the everyday hallucinatory, fuelled by the powerful narcotics of disorientation, hypervigilance and fatigue. Tom Jenks

david-gaffney.sumupstore.com

Lakes of Titan

Out now! Lakes of Titan is a short limited edition pamphlet consist of 34 pieces of experimental prose, published by Above/Ground press in Ottawa. Order straight from me at the knock down price of 5.0...

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

If you’re in Manchester tomorrow (Saturday, 4pm), it would be dead good to see you at the 50th Peter Barlow’s Cigarette – 50th, blimey! Amazing readers: Frances Presley, Jeremy Over and David Gaffney. Oh, and *cough* me. Free as well and the venue is ace – bring your headtorch and your pocket money.

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

🎥 📚 🕖 Tonight at book/record shop & public drinking rooms Ad England Impiety Hour (aka Peste), it’s the launch of essay collection The Carbon Arc, with four readers – David Gaffney, Nicholas Royle, Anne Worthington & David Savill – plus film clips, introduced by editor Richard Skinner. Free entry.

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Imogen Reid @imogenreid.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

If you are in Manchester tonight this will be fantastic! Introduced and published by @richardnskinner.bsky.social readings by @anne-worthington.bsky.social @ggaffa.bsky.social @nicholasroyle.bsky.social & David Savill, at 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓 AKA "O! Peste Destroyed"/ "Annihilation Eve"

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Imogen Reid @imogenreid.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

The Carbon Arc will launch in Manchester November 12th, published by @richardnskinner.bsky.social work by @anne-worthington.bsky.social @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social @ggaffa.bsky.social @nicholasroyle.bsky.social Maria Fusco, Gareth Evans, Sam Mills et al. richardskinner.weebly.com/lsquothe-car...

richardskinner.weebly.com

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Imogen Reid @imogenreid.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

@smallpublishers.bsky.social Haul! I 'Flight Paths' by @ggaffa.bsky.social/@nightjarpress.bsky.social , NaoKo TakaHashi' & @intergraphiabooks.bsky.social 'Blabbermind' by Andrew Kotting, @susiecampbell.bsky.social & @guillemotpress.bsky.social ,SJ Fowler/ Sampson Low. Fantastic reading from all 🔥🔥🔥

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Nightjar Press @nightjarpress.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Nightjar publisher @nicholasroyle.bsky.social in conversation with Ma Bibliothèque publisher Sharon Kivland @smallpublishers.bsky.social photo by @emmabolland.bsky.social

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confingopublishing.bsky.social @confingopublishing.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

A new story by David Gaffney is always something to celebrate. Flight Paths, published by @nightjarpress.bsky.social‬, is one of his most intriguing – tautly edgy, deftly organised. nightjarpress.weebly.com/flight-paths.html

nightjarpress.weebly.com

Flight Paths

Flight Paths David Gaffney Author bio Cover photograph: Nicholas Royle ISBN 978-1-917965-01-9 Publication date: June 2025

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

I'm off to watch Carlisle play Altrincham this afternoon -come on the blues! I hope they are good in rain - coming from cumbria they're probably well used to it.... m.youtube.com/watch?v=uURN...

m.youtube.com

The Thyme Machine - Jimmy Glass

YouTube video by The Thyme Machine

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Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

If your neighbourhood is infested with flags on lampposts, email your councillor and request that they be taken down. In some areas, they have done so; the more people who contact them, the better. Alternatively, organise a small group, get a ladder and some cable tie cutters, and do it yourselves.

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

My instagram has become videos only! I’ve looked at settings but cant seem to change it - anyone else had this or know how to fix it?

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

I am on the crossing where Jean-Paul Belmondo dies after being shot in A Bout De Souffle by Jean Luc Godard - this appears in my essay on film locations in the new anthology The Carbon Arc - available now! richardskinner.weebly.com/lsquothe-car...

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Ian Critchley @iancritchley.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

I loved @ggaffa.bsky.social's previous @nightjarpress.bsky.social story, and this is as good if not better. A flight path signals something much deeper in the narrator's life, darker and more unsettling nightjarpress.weebly.com

Front cover of Flight Paths, a short story chapbook by David Gaffney, published by Nightjar Press. Image shows a brick building with two windows above a sign saying 'Enigma'.

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

I am teaching on this online short story course for Arvon in October - be great to see some of you there A few places are concession spots, available at a 30% discount for low-waged writers or those receiving certain benefits. Here's the link to the week: www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

arvon.org

Online Writing Week: Short Fiction | Stories that pack a punch | Arvon

The magic of short fiction lies in its ability to hold a whole universe within its tantalisingly small landscape. Bringing a sense of play and curiosity to the page, this course will give you the chan...

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

I have a new story out on Nightjar press called Flight Paths. Get one here for only £3.00. I suggest buying mine along with Joe Stretch ‘s as they were both commissioned for Stockport Stories, and complement each other like an earthy wine with a ripe brie. nightjarpress.weebly.com?fbclid=IwQ0x...

nightjarpress.weebly.com

Nightjar Press

Nightjar Press publish original short stories as signed, limited-edition chapbooks.

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

I have a new story out on Nightjar! Its called Flight Paths and its a ghostly tale of aeroplanes and romance fraud...you can use the link below to buy one for £3

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Just visited Gibberd house and garden in Harlow - Gibberd designed Harlow new town and Liverpool Catholic Cathedral - well worth a look

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Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

“In another sky my father was a security guard for a thermometer factory while studying for a Phd in Hauntology. Turn it upside down they would call to him across the floor, then shake it. Did your father become a practicing hauntologist? Sadly, he did not, despite it being his dream.”

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Catch @ggaffa.bsky.social and also @nightjarpress.bsky.social editor @nicholasroyle.bsky.social (oh, and me) reading at Je ne sais Blah ll this Thursday evening at Cafe Blah, Withington Village, doors 7pm, free entry.

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

I have some new short pieces published here - thanks to the wonderful people at Piccioletta Barca for selecting them. These are from my forthcoming collection Lakes Of Titan www.picciolettabarca.com/posts/the-trip Here some sections read live tonight at Café Blah in Withington

picciolettabarca.com

La Piccioletta Barca | The Trip - by David Gaffney

Near the rewilded shopping centre a man called Frank Robinson was sitting on a small folding stool of the type ...

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

What's happened to #nighttracks @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social it used to be experimental and interesting - but now? What? Garden centre relaxation music? Radio 3 can be risk taking! No need for this...

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Excited about my new short story out soon on Nightjar!

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Nightjar Press @nightjarpress.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Not yet on the website, but going out to subscribers.

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Flash fiction writers - I am running a workshop in Frodsham Cheshire and places are going fast they tell me so if you live in Frodsham or Cheshire or just fancy a day out in the hometown of Gary Barlow and Spit the Dog then book your place now! www.weaverwords.org.uk/flash-fictio...

weaverwords.org.uk

FLASH FICTION WORKSHOP

Can you tell a story in fewer than 500 words? David Gaffney thinks so. You learn to reduce ideas to an ultra-short format.

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

TOMORROW! This time tomorrow, the nerves will be kicking in... An evening of readings at Saul Hay Gallery to celebrate the launch of Wanderland, with Scott Thurston & Lydia Unsworth – expect delicious writing morsels, tasty kinepoetics and some tempting Oulipian collaboration.

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

🪶📚🚀THIS THURSDAY! I'd love it if you'd pop along and welcome Wanderland worldwards! It's the official launch of my new book, 7pm at Saul Hay Gallery, free entry, and joining the party to help me celebrate are guest readers Scott Thurston and Lydia Unsworth. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...

eventbrite.co.uk

Book launch: Conlon, Thurston, Unsworth

An evening of readings to celebrate the launch of Sarah-Clare Conlon's latest poetry book, Wanderland.

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Sarah-Clare Conlon @sarahclareconlon.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

“Wanderland is full of gorgeous observational poems about nature that are lovely to read and greatly skilled” ~ Will Mackie “Stylishly crafted, attentive and attuned to the surprises of the world around us” ~ Jennifer Lee Tsai “Beautiful poems of treasure and nature and light” ~ Rachel Bower

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David Gaffney @ggaffa.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

This Saturday night on Record Store Day its Sleeve Note with live new writing and new music at the Anthony Burgess centre Manchester. We were sold out but we now have 5 extra tickets do get them while they are hot! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sleeve-not...

eventbrite.co.uk

Sleeve Notes

New writing and music to celebrate record store day

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