Naomi Westerman is a British playwriting and author known for her non-fiction works. She writes primarily about disability and mental health.
Naomi Westerman was born and raised in the UK. She holds a Joint BA (Hons) in Anthropology and Journalism, an MSc in Anthropology, and an MSc in Applied Neuroscience. In addition, Westerman began a PhD in Neuroanthropology but did not complete it. Her academic focus was on mental illness and gender, and she also studied death rituals across cultures.
Westerman began her career as an anthropologist, then moved into writing in 2015. She graduated from the Criterion Playwriting Programme and Graeae's Write to Play training scheme for disabled writers. Naomi's playwriting career includes being a writer in residence at Wapping Berlin and Rosemary Branch Shrill Voices. She has also been an associate company member at The Bush Theatre and was a writer in residence at Birmingham Rep in 2017.
Naomi founded and co-directs Little but Fierce Theatre, a fringe theatre company supporting female and non-binary creatives who identify as disabled or neurodivergent. The company produces plays by disabled, D/deaf, and neurodivergent writers and directors.
Their notable productions include Batman and ZINA at Vault Festival, a co-production of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a scavenger hunt audio tour Londoninium commissioned by the London Mayor's office. In 2019, they took the romantic-comedy Puppy to Santiago, Chile.
Little but Fierce recently won a Royal Society of Literature award to run free playwriting workshops for emerging disabled and neurodivergent writers and to host a showcase of short pieces and monologues. They also co-organize the National Inclusive Theatre Day, an event for students with special educational needs and disabilities, scheduled for spring 2025.
Naomi is actively involved in disability and mental health activism. She created Grassroots, an initiative at the Barnes Film Festival, to provide free workshops and resources for disadvantaged and marginalized young people. Naomi has also been involved in platform theatre productions with a North London disability organization and has written pieces for pop-up protest theatre staged by Disabled People Against Cuts. She has attended events at Downing Street and Parliament to lobby for more support for disabled people and is a member of Triple C's mental health task force.
Westerman's most recent book, Happy Death Club (2024), blends academic study with memoir. It discusses true crime podcasts, women in the death industry, and death rituals worldwide. Reflecting on her personal experience with grief, she writes, "I struggled with grief and talking about it, particularly as a young woman." The book provides a frank and humorous look at death, grief, and bereavement.
Photo credit: www.curtisbrown.co.uk
