Henry Normal Library Tour | Hyson Green

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 Hyson Green Library by poet Naomi Woods

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.

Naomi Woods is a spoken word performer and theatre-maker whose work celebrates rebellion and revels in rage, with a distinctive and playful preoccupation with the eroticism of bird feeders.

Her solo show Gobbess has toured nationally and internationally, including runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, Glastonbury Festival, and in Oslo. It has been described as “laugh-out-loud funny… pure magic… unmissable” (Discover Brighton) and “an act of creative mastery” (UCLAN).

Naomi has been published by Backlash Press and Ink, Sweat and Tears, and was recently shortlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize and longlisted by Black Cat Poetry Press. Her latest show, Monster, has been praised as “astonishing, immersive… funny, unsettling, intelligent and deeply human,” leaving a lasting impression long after the performance ends.