Join Henry Normal as he chats and shares poems with award-winning wordsmiths from Flapjack Press. With audience Q&A.
A series of free live stream events brought to you this summer by Flapjack Press, Manchester Libraries and New Poetry Society. What better way to spend your lunchtime?

Henry Normal is a poet, writer, TV and film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. Henry co-wrote and script edited The Mrs Merton Show and the spin-off series Mrs Merton and Malcolm. He also co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family and has collaborated extensively with Steve Coogan. Setting up Baby Cow Productions Ltd in 1999, Henry Executive Produced all and script edited many of the shows during his tenure as MD. Highlights of the Baby Cow output during this time include Oscar-nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Nighty Night and Alan Partridge. In 2017 he was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to television. Since retiring, Henry has written and performed seven BBC Radio 4 shows in his ‘occasional series’ A Normal…, combining comedy, poetry and stories about his life and family.

“Shove up national treasures. We need to make room for Henry Normal.” Radio Times

Thick Richard has presented BBC Radio 6 Music’s Beat of the Day, performed on BBC Radio 4, hosted NME parties, and gigged with Kae Tempest, John Hegley, Arthur Smith, The Fall, Jerry Sadowitz and (sort of) Dr John Cooper Clarke. He co-curated spoken word franchise Bang Said the Gun’s Manchester events during its run at The Dancehouse Theatre, and his one-man show, Swear School (a crash course in everything you wanted to know about bad language – with puppets), toured nationally. His flamboyant use of profanity once saw the official Edinburgh Fringe radio station temporarily closed down and he has been kidnapped on two separate and unconnected occasions. His latest collection of acerbic wit and wisdom, Read ‘em and Weep, was published in 2020.

“His words are rattling and brilliant and shoot life back at you in all its futility and chaos and wonder.” Kae Tempest, poet