Find The Right Words
St Andrews festival of poetry Stanza is back with an exciting and packed programme to suit all lyrical tastes and desires
Plenty rhyme and plenty reason at the ever-popular StAnza poetry festival
WHILE Scotland is well known for its book festivals, one acclaimed St Andrews-based event focuses on another word form – poetry. Now in its 22nd year, Stanza is a world-class event bringing both up-and-coming and established poets from around the globe to Fife to celebrate the lyrical art form.
This year’s festival kicks off on March 4 and runs across five days. The line-up features talented wordsmiths including American poet and human rights advocate Carolyn Forché and the Shetland-based poet Jen Hadfield – the youngest winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize at age 30.
Festival director Eleanor Livingstone, says the famous golf town has a long and enduring love of poetry.
“Because St Andrews has the oldest university in Scotland our connection with poetry goes way back to the Middle Ages,” Eleanor says. “We’ve had lots of fun in the past, digging out links with former medieval poets who have studied here. The tradition of holding poetry festivals in St Andrews dates as far back as the 1970s, with the American critic and writer Jay Parini organising the first one during his PHD studies there.”
Stanza itself was conceived by three St Andrews-based poets, Brian Johnstone, Anna Crowe and Gavin Bowd in 1997, with the first festival taking place the following year on National Poetry Day. The festival has grown over the years and the annual event is now a firm favourite with poetry lovers across Scotland and beyond.
The 2020 programme offers more than 80 poets performing at a range of venues across the town.
“Whether you’re looking for poetry of witness, light verse or spoken word to make you laugh and cry – or if you simply need a poetic umbrella for a rainy day, we’ve got it covered,” Eleanor says.
“We have a fantastic programme featuring everything from poetry showcases with the winners and runners-up of prizes such as the Edwin Morgan Trust, to Poetry Cafés where visitors can enjoy their lunch while being entertained by verse. There are also spoken word
performances including one from Luke Wright, who’ll be performing his show The Remains of Logan Dankworth.
“We have poetry walks around St Andrews and events that engage, such as poetry slams, open mic events and masterclasses. We also have big poetry names such as Wendy Cope and D.A. Powell as well as a brand-new event called Desert Island Poems, which will see
Val Mcdermid discuss her favourite works.”
“You don’t need to understand poetry to enjoy it”
The festival always has a two themes which interweave throughout the events, and this year it’s Coast Lines and Due North, tying in with 2020 being Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters.
“We have lots of watery things on the programme, including poets from Shetland and Orkney, and lots of Gaelic and Nordic too.”
With the festival hitting 22 years old, I ask Eleanor why poetry is still so important today.
“One of the poets appearing this year is Tony Walsh, who reached a global audience with his poem This is the Place which was commissioned in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.
“His poem entered the folklore and fabric of his home city and this is a great example of how and why poetry matters today.
“Poetry is a way of being truthful and saying important things which register with people in a way that they don’t always even understand. There’s something about poetry that really connects with people.
“I think that’s so important today, that ability to recognise something that is genuine and true, even if you can’t quite articulate to yourself what it is about it that resonates.
“One of the things I’m forever telling people is that you don’t need to understand poetry to enjoy it, just like you don’t have to understand music to appreciate Beethoven. It’s not about understanding something – it’s about how it engages you.”
“We have poetry walks and events such as poetry slams”
For further information and to book tickets, visit www.stanzapoetry.org