Plea for budding bards to celebrate their home town in verse

First Art are asking you all to submit your poems – about the people and places where you live – so they can create a new poetic portrait of Ashfield, Bolsover, Mansfield and NE Derbyshire.

You don’t have to be a professional, or even an enthusiastic amateur, but it’s ok if you are. All they ask is that you are from one of the places listed above.

They will be selecting the most interesting, imaginative and inspiring work that represents the area and they will be exhibited in a number of ways:

The Derbyshire Times and the Mansfield and Ashfield Chad will publish a selected number from each area on a special double paged spread – which will also feature the work of a professional illustrator.

A commissioned artist will create glorious shop windows (one in each of the 4 First Art areas) featuring a large scale illustration and integrate the poems from that area.

Drinks coasters will appear in cafes and pubs in the First Art area with some of the locally sourced verses.

The winners will also get to meet acclaimed local writer and comedian Henry Normal, who has worked with the likes of Steve Coogan.

To get involved send your poems (500 word max) by email to [email protected] by 10am Friday 25th August.

Make sure you include your full name and postcode, so we can get back in touch with you. We can’t promise to publish or exhibit every poem we receive, but we will use as many as we can.