Norman taught secondary school students in Gisborne for five decades and is now retired. He is a painter and print-maker; president of Unity Theatre; has directed over twenty productions for that company plus three for Musical Theatre and also high school shows over many years. Norman has been a contributor to Radio NZ broadcasts for some years, has had short stories broadcast there; writes essays in addition to fiction and has won the Ashton Wylie annual award for an unpublished work in the Body, Mind, Spirit genre. This was subsequently published in Britain and a second non-fiction work is shortly to be published in Wellington: a book of essays that came third in a subsequent Ashton Wylie contest.