There is a fertile thread of storytelling in Mansfield’s soil that stretches back long before pages were printed or digital screens lit up the dark.
We often think of Nottinghamshire’s literary heritage through the heavyweights – Lord Byron, DH Lawrence, or Alan Sillitoe – or look toward Edwinstowe for the ancient canopy of Sherwood Forest. But Mansfield’s own literary identity runs just as deep. Look no further than the monument in our town centre marking Mansfield as the historic heart of Sherwood Forest, or our local heritage from 18th-century local poet Robert Dodsley to the historical literary stop along Southwell Road at the Brown Cow.
Long before modern festivals, this district held the voices of outlaws, balladeers, poets, and working folk who understood one fundamental truth:
stories are how a community stakes its claim on history.
That lineage isn’t just heritage. It is muscle memory.
In my previous column, I spoke about the raw, undeniable talent revealed through the Writing On The Wall competition. Seeing local, working-class voices etched into the walls of the Old Town Hall will show that Mansfield has a creative heartbeat as vital as any major city. But a single spark isn’t enough – we have to build the bonfire.
That is precisely why I have put forward a concept that I believe is long overdue for our town: a Voices Of Mansfield Festival, celebrating creativity in all its forms.
This vision isn’t something drawn up on a corporate whiteboard. It is born directly out of years on the ground – working alongside entrants, judging anthologies, and carrying Mansfield’s identity onto global platforms.
I’ve always believed that to champion your hometown, you have to take its voice into the wider world. Recently, I had the immense honour of having my work published in an international academic journal celebrating the 165th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore – the first non-Western writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Alongside my ongoing work with platforms like Nottingham’s UNESCO City of Literature, milestones like this aren’t just personal achievements. They are proof of what can be built right here. When we take Mansfield to the global stage, we bring that prestige back home.
Places that invest in their local voices invest in their future. Mansfield shouldn’t have to look outward or lean on neighbouring towns to celebrate its creativity. We have the history, we have the global reach, and above all, we have the people.
The Voices Of Mansfield concept is being developed as a landmark cultural event celebrating the many voices and forms of creative expression that make up our town and district. Literature and poetry would form an important part of that programme – alongside music, art, performance, history, storytelling and the many other ways in which people express what Mansfield means to them.
It is also an opportunity to bring workshops and creative activity into our schools, encourage people into our town centre, support local businesses, and, perhaps most importantly, give Mansfield’s own people a greater sense of ownership and pride in the place they call home.
Following recent discussions with local council leaders, stakeholders and potential funding partners, the vision is now being explored as a pilot for next year. While the final shape of the event is still being developed, the intention is to create something genuinely representative of the breadth of creative talent and community voices across Mansfield and the wider district.
That, for me, is the exciting part. We are not simply talking about putting on another event. We are talking about creating a platform through which Mansfield can tell its own story – through poetry, literature, music, art, performance, history, memory and the many different experiences that make up our community.
Great cultural initiatives only take flight when a community refuses to let its creative energy stay on paper. As we begin laying the foundations for what could become a significant new cultural presence in Mansfield – and look ahead to expanding this column to highlight the local businesses and sponsors who champion our culture – I want to ask you directly: speak up!
Tell your local representatives, community organisations, businesses and fellow residents what you would like to see Mansfield become. Tell us which stories deserve to be heard, which voices deserve a stage, and what you would like a future Voices Of Mansfield event to celebrate.
Because this isn’t simply about building a festival.
It’s about building a stage for Mansfield’s future.
#WeAreMansfield