This Phantom Breath

This Phantom Breath was written between August 2016 and August 2017.
The poems in this collection are concerned with love, death, truth and other inconvenient distractions.

“The Alan Bennett of poetry” – The Scotsman
“Dovetails bittersweet poetry with a sublimely observant wit” – The Guardian
“Witty and uncannily accurate with his observations” – The Stage
“The nerd triumphant” – Manchester Evening News
“Distinctly funny” – Time Out

Author Biography

Henry Normal is a writer, poet, TV and film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In June 2017 he was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to television.
Henry co-wrote and script edited the multi-award-winning 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. With Steve Coogan, he co-wrote the BAFTA-winning Paul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan’s Run, Tony Ferrino, Doctor Terrible, all of Steve’s live tours, and the film The Parole Officer.
Setting up Baby Cow Productions Ltd in 1999, Henry Executive Produced all, and script edited many, of the shows of its seventeen-and-a-half-year output during his tenure as MD. Highlights of the Baby Cow output during this time include Oscar-nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey, I Believe in Miracles, Moone Boy, The Mighty Boosh, Marion and Geoff, Red Dwarf, Uncle, Nighty Night, Camping, Hunderby and Alan Partridge.
Since retiring in April 2016, Henry has written and performed four BBC Radio 4 shows, A Normal Family, A Normal Life, A Normal Love and A Normal Imagination, combining comedy, poetry and stories about bringing up his autistic son.