Naomi Westerman - Author and Playwright

WHAT'S NEW

 

JAN 2026. I am one of Polka Theatre's resident artists for 2026, and will be spending the rest of the year writing and developing a new play for them. 'The Penguins' (working title) is a new stage play intended for pre-school aged children based on the true story of Roy and Silo, the Central Park gay penguins. 'The Penguins' will debut at the Big Dreams Festival in September 2026.

 

JAN 2026. I am going to be spending the next few months in residence at the Wycombe Arts Centre, under commission from the National Paralympic Heritage Trust to create a new piece celebrating the life of Jean Stone and the Paralympic Games. The piece will debut at the Wycombe Arts Centre in March before going on tour.

 

OCTOBER 2025. I'm thrilled and honoured to be chosen to be one of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's five 'Treehouse' resident artists for winter 2025/2026. I'll be spending the next four months working on two new projects, a stage adaptation of an amazing action-fantasy novel I have the rights to which I'm hoping to adapt into a large scale family production, and (and now for something completely different) a new play/conceptual art piece about the contemporary art world, art feuds, and the state of being an artist.

 

SEPTEMBER 2025: The North American edition of Happy Death Club goes on wide release all across the USA and Canada in October, so I'm going on a small book tour of New York and Toronto. Book tour dates on my blog or Instagram. Happy Death Club will be available in bookstores nationwide, and we've also signed distribution deals with WalMart, with Indigo Books in Canada, and of course the book will also be on sale in many independent bookstores, as well as the usual online retailers.

 

JULY 2025. My stage play Batman is going on tour across East Africa (please check blog or Instagram for tour dates), culminating in a run at the Malawi International Theatre Festival in Lilongwe, Malawi. 

 

I was recently interviewed by Dr Miranda Melcher for the New Books Network podcast, out now everywhere you get your podcasts.

 

The Guardian ran a four-page feature on me in the 13th July 2024 issue of the Observer. Read it here.

 

My book 'Happy Death Club' is OUT NOW in all good bookshops/Amazon. Waterstones chose my book to be one of their table books, displayed on a table when you walk in, and is a bestseller on Amazon!

 

Cardboard Citizens Theatre chose me as one of nine writers for their upcoming 'More Than One Story' commission series, alongside legends like Roy Williams and Charlie Josephine. My piece 'Sandwiches' starts rehearsals in April and will be performed at Hoxton Hall in June.

 

I recently had pieces published in Stylist Magazine and the Ecologist.

 

I'm hoping to do a Reddit AMA discussing any and all facets of death soon. Catch me at u/HappyDeathClub!