In our tenth anniversary year, we embarked on the creation of a Literary Map of Nottingham to help drive literary tourism and help both tourists and residents find the lesser known literary corners of Nottingham.
The collaborative project between Nottingham City of Literature, the University of Nottingham and Visit Nottinghamshire was funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Arts Council England and is a celebration of Nottingham’s literary voices both past and present. The illustrations were created by Chloë Holwill-Hunter.
The map is the culmination of a series of public-facing workshops that delved into Nottingham’s rich literary history and present. The team then had the tricky task of narrowing them down to forty-two locations divided up into bookshops, literary landmarks and people and places. A member of the team, researcher Crystal Mah-Wing was interviewed by LeftLion magazine about the process, and you can read that interview here.
Professor Matt Welton, the Principle Investigator of the project from the University of Nottingham said:
Settling on the forty-two locations featured on the map came about through a process in which the map team set up a series of workshops. We invited writers and representatives from Nottingham’s literary institutions to share their thoughts and ideas on the people and places of significance to historical and contemporary writing in Nottingham. If it wasn’t for the practical consideration of printing it on a sheet of A3 paper, the map could have included hundreds of locations. This reading list is, we hope, a way of inviting you to go beyond the map and explore some writing and writers with a strong Nottingham connection. We feel these will give you an idea why we are so excited about literature in Nottingham.
The map is now available in locations around the city, including the Nottingham Tourism Centre, Five Leaves bookshop, Bromley House Library, Nottingham Central Library, and Inspire libraries like Beeston and West Bridgford. Excitingly, the map is also available to view on the Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM), a three-dimensional 3D printed model of Nottingham which uses a touchscreen interface to project maps and data onto the highly detailed model.
The map was officially launched on 29 April at Nottingham Council House.
L-R Dr Matt Welton (UoN), Dr Michelle Leonforte (NCoL) Hannah Trevarthen (Director NCoL) Crystal mah-Wing (map researcher) and Beth Somi (Creative Triangle).
