Henry Normal Library Tour | The Meadows

Back once again for another tour of Nottingham Libraries, Henry Normal and friends treat us to a tour of the book palaces of our city.

Henry will be accompanied at The Meadows Library by poet Gabrielle Cracknell.

Henry is a writer, poet, television and film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Literature Festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In 2017, he received a special BAFTA for services to television.

He co-wrote and script edited the multi-award-winning Mrs Merton Show and its spin-off Mrs Merton and Malcolm, and co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family. With Steve Coogan, he co-wrote Paul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan’s Run, Tony Ferrino, Doctor Terrible, Coogan’s live tours, and the film The Parole Officer.

As co-founder and Managing Director of Baby Cow Productions, he executive produced and script edited numerous acclaimed projects, including Philomena, Gavin and Stacey, Moone Boy, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Nighty Night, and Alan Partridge.

Since retiring in 2016, he has written and performed a series of BBC Radio 4 shows combining comedy, poetry and family stories. His memoir A Normal Family (2018), co-written with Angela Pell, became an Amazon bestseller.

Gabrielle Cracknell is a poet and fiction writer originally from Suffolk, now based in Nottingham. Her work has been published widely and performed at festivals including Poetry in Aldeburgh and First Light Festival.

She has been shortlisted for the Streetcake Experimental Writing Prize and was runner-up in the 2026 Film Kernow Writing Competition. She has also worked as a poet-in-residence and recently had a poem exhibited at Nottingham Central Library as part of Simon Armitage’s Laureate Library Tour.