**SOLD OUT** Henry Normal undertakes a tour of Nottinghamshire Libraries **SOLD OUT**

Back once again for another tour of Nottinghamshire Libraries, Henry Normal and friends treat us to four shows as well as touring the shire on Inspire’s Mobile Library. Henry is a writer, poet, TV & Film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Literature festival) and co-founder of Nottingham Poetry Festival. He co-wrote and script edited the multi-award winning Mrs Merton show and the spin-off series Mrs Merton and Malcolm, Henry co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family. In June 2017 Henry was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to Television after retiring from Baby Cow Productions in 2016, where highlights of his tenure as MD include the Oscar-nominated film Philomena, I Believe in Miracles, Gavin and Stacey, Moone Boy, Uncle, Marion and Geoff, Nighty Night, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Hunderby, Camping and Alan Partridge. Henry has written and performed 11 x BBC Radio 4 shows combining comedy, poetry and stories about family. He was recently given an honorary doctorate of letters by Nottingham Trent University, another by Nottingham University. He has a beer and a bus named after him in Nottingham and has just completed a nationwide sell-out theatre tour with the Banksy of poetry, Brian Bilston. Henry’s 13th book ‘A Moonless Night ‘ was released on 28th February 2024.

Henry will be accompanied on tour by four fabulous Nottingham poets,

10th June, Retford Library, 1pm – 2pm, with Manjit Sahota

‘Poetry for me is the memory of our history, struggle and resistance’ Manjit

Nottingham poet Manjit Sahota is the co-founder of Poets Against Racism and has performed around the country since 2016. Manjit has delivered workshops for several schools, universities and local organisations in Nottingham, sharing his spoken word poetry to encourage others to write, read and perform poetry. He has delivered several projects for the National Literacy Trust, Nottingham Trent University, National Justice Museum and Refugee Week. Manjit formed PAR in 2016 to rally poets, spoken word artists and rappers to use their poetry to challenge the rise in racism and spread the word of unity, humanity and Love.

10th June, Southwell Library, 4pm – 5pm, with Bridie Squires

Bridie Squires is a poet, playwright, producer and performance artist from Nottingham.
Previously journalist and editor at LeftLion Magazine, she was appointed Nottingham Trent University’s first Writer in Residence in 2019, and founded Nottingham spoken-word collective GOBS in 2020.
Bridie was Producer for Nottingham Poetry Festival and Young Creative Awards, and is Production Manager at British Gestalt Journal. A Mouthy Poets alumnus, she has performed her poetry in Southbank Centre, London, Badisches Staatstheatre, Karlsruhe, and We Out Here Festival, Cambridge. Bridie has performed alongside Lemn Sissay, Holly McNish, Henry Normal, Yomi Ṣode and Linton Kwesi Johnson.  She is Lead Artist at GOBS Collective, Creative Writing Tutor at Headway Nottingham, and has delivered workshops for Nottingham City Council, Archway Learning Trust, UNESCO City of Literature, and Nottingham Community Artists Network. She was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 for Mardy, a poem for Talk and Tongue: The Dialect Poets, and was selected to take part in BBC Words First and BBC New Creatives, where she developed her audio drama Self-checkout, for BBC Sounds, in 2022. Bridie was awarded both a Develop Your Creative Practice grant and National Lottery funding by Arts Council England to create Casino Zero – her one-woman loop station play based on her experiences as a croupier. Bridie published her debut poetry collection Duck on Bike in 2023. She is currently collaborating with Nottingham Playhouse to continue developing Casino Zero and GOBS Collective.

11th June, Kirkby-in-Ashfield-Library, 12 – 1pm, with Michelle Hubbard 

Michelle Mother Hubbard is a Nottm based ‘stage and page’ poet, known for her warmth and accessibility. She’s been active as a poet for over 25 years. Her work largely draws upon her own lived experiences. She also enjoys using poetry as a vehicle to tackle a wide range of sensitive historic and contemporary issues. Michelle’s poems appear in several anthologies, and she has two self-published collections ‘The Tapestry of a Black Woman’ and ‘The Irish Jamaican’. She’s a founding member of BLACKDROP, Nottingham’s hugely successful open mic spoken word event.

11th June, West Bridgford Library, 3.30pm – 4.30pm, with Pete Ramskill

Pete Ramskill is a poet, artist, illustrator, designer and sculptor. Pete used to perform regularly on Terry Christian’s Radio Derby show and has also performed at the the Edinburgh Festival for BBC Radio 4. He also appeared on BBC 3’s Whine Gums poetry series. He has performed at poetry and cabaret venues all over the UK including The Nottingham Poetry Festival. Pete has had three books of poems published; ‘Strike’ (Derby Cooperative Press) and ‘Personal Vendetta’ (Amazing Collosal Press as John Bitumen). His latest is Selected Moments of Machine Life (Flapjack Press). He is currently working on an illustrated book of selected poems by Henry Normal taken from his Instagram page @henrynormalpoetry It’s no coincidence that Pete Ramskill is also a stone carver, he brings the same tools to his poetry – a hammer and chisel…