[1] She was active in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s as an editor and poet and since the 1980s has lived on the south coast of NSW, Australia where she continues to write, perform, publish and edit.
In 1978, she and Dane Thwaites began a magazine called Compass Poetry & Prose which published many of the young Australian poets of the time.
She closed the magazine in 1987 and soon after, was a member of the collective (which included David Reiter among others) who founded Five Islands Press.
[2] Like many poets of her generation, Mansell has made her living by performing her work, publishing and teaching writing at various institutions.
Her collection Mortifications & Lies has been described as a 'groundbreaking work' because of its experimentation with form and its overtly political content.