5 Things to Do in Nottingham This Week

Join writer and music aficionado Darryl Bullock for a journey through the hidden history of LGBT lives in music. Starting with the growth of jazz and blues, the talk will focus on the almost forgotten world of the inter-war years, where LGBT stars were tearin’ up stages here, there and everywhere. After that, it will move through the swinging sixties, disco and glam rock before ending with some of our modern legendary gay popstars. Expect a huge helping of Bowie with sizeable portions of Elton John, Freddie Mercury and George Michael to go alongside. If this sounds like your cuppa tea, pop Five Leaves an email on fiveleaves.bookshopevents@gmail.com to let ‘em know you’ll be there.
Tuesday 26 September, 7pm, £3, Five Leaves Bookshop, event link

Listen up, entrepreneurs of Notts. Nottingham Trent University are hosting an event to kick off their Innovation series; four separate workshops designed to help budding and established designers, makers or inventors with their ingenious ideas. These sessions will cover all sorts of business ground, from how to get your ideas to production successfully to designing product packaging. On the day, you will hear from three designers from very different backgrounds who will share their pearls of wisdom with you, in the hope it might spark some creative brilliance. It’s also a wicked chance to do a spot of networking, as yer never know who you might meet.
Wednesday 27 September, 9am-1pm, free, Broadway Cinema, event link

Writer, poet and TV producer Henry Normal will be returning to his hometown to celebrate the release of his new poetry collection, Raining Upwards. This is his first book with all new poetry for 25 years, and seeing as he is one of the co-founders of Nottingham Poetry Festival, you can expect them to be rather marvellous. But rhyming words isn’t all Henry is good at, he is also the brains behind Baby Cow Productions, the company that brought Gavin and Stacey, The Mighty Boosh and other crackers to life. Oh, and he only went and won a bleddy BAFTA this year for services to television. It’s no wonder Castle Rock Brewery named a beer after him.  Spaces are limited, so make sure your get your ticket ASAP.
Wednesday 27 September, 7.30pm, free, Waterstones, event link

Now it’s time to write some poems of yer own. Get dahn to Debbie Bryan, rip some pages outta a vintage book and create some black-out poetry. No need to be good at writing for this one, it’s all about drawing, colouring or collaging over the paragraphs already on the paper until there’s only certain words left showing. Now, when yer read down the page, you’ve got yersen yer very own poem. Make it as happy, sad, angry or playful as you want. Just make sure yer have a blast letting them creative juices flow. Grab a cuppa and a cake and get stuck in.
Thursday 28 September, 3pm-4.30pm, free, Debbie Bryan, event link

Kitty Tray has pulled out all the stops to make Nottingham’s very first Drag Festival an evening to remember. On the night you can expect fabulous performances from a number of RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni such as Adore Delano, Darienne Lake, Tempest DuJour, Kasha Davis, Derrick Barry and others, including American drag legend herself, Aggy Dune. If you fancy getting up-close and personal with some of the stars, then bag yersen a Meet and Mingle ticket while you can. This golden ticket means you’ll have an hour to chat and take selfies before the show begins. With every ticket also gettin’ you free entry to Propaganda, there’s no excuses not party until the early hours.
Thursday 28 September, 7pm, £30-£60, Rescue Rooms, event link