Charles P. Norman

I have survived over thirty years in Florida prisons for the wrongful conviction of a murder I did not commit. My poetry, short stories, essays, memoirs, and plays have won numerous national writing awards since I first won a MENSA prize in 1986, and have been widely published.

I love the elasticity of English, how words can be pulled, shaped, and re-formed to express the thoughts and feelings in my mind. I view the good folks at PEN as benevolent hacksaw-wielding elves who’ve been steadily slicing through the cage bars that confine me, setting me free.

Also an accomplished artist, my literary and art works can be reviewed at http://www.freecharlienow.com. A prison blog is in the works.


Articles by Charles P. Norman

Prison and Justice Writing
Friday April 23

Escape Risk

CAST   SKULL LESTER TOOTY BUZZARD ERSKINE GRANGER BETTY JEETER   A madman A fool A blimp An old pervert A runaround A guard A nurse An off-stage voice SCENE: A four-man CELL, open toward the audience, back of the cell are vertical steel bars, with a center cell door of bars facing a CATWALK

Prison and Justice Writing
Monday July 20

I Wore Chains to My Father’s Funeral

I lay on my steel bunk in the dark of my prison cell, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the phone conversation I’d had with my mother a few hours before. She’d just gotten home from University Community Hospital, where she and my brothers held vigil over my father. She was exhausted. “How’s Daddy doing,

Prison and Justice Writing
Monday July 7

Hettie Jones & Charles Norman: An Interview

Although much of my “prison” work is dark and tragic, I’m actually the class clown, and my humor is an important part of who I am. I have to be careful to suppress it in prison, though, for those who rule us are humorless, and easily offended, such tempting targets for mockery.

More Articles by Charles P. Norman

Prison and Justice Writing
Tuesday June 24

Fighting the Ninja

Prison and Justice Writing
Friday November 10

World’s Oldest Prisoner