Blog
Talking poetry with StAnza 2021's Burning Eye Poets
Wednesday 10 March 2021, 12:09
Our guest editors for the day, Burning Eye Books, interview some StAnza 2021 poets.
Burning Eye has a strong connection with StAnza. Many of our poets have appeared at the festival in the nine years we have been publishing including Jemima Foxtrot, Vanessa Kisuule, Paula Varjack, Kirsten Luckins, Ash Dickinson, Selina Nwulu and Scott Tyrrell. This year is no different, with three poets published by Burning Eye: Raymond Antrobus, Hannah Raymond-Cox and Desree.
We published Raymond Antrobus’ debut pamphlet in 2012 but it was his trailblazing Penned in the Margins' collection The Perseverance in 2018 that bagged him wide acclaim and a hat full of prizes. With a new collection due this year from Picador we asked Ray whether he felt a weight of expectation in following such a successful book:
"To be honest," he said, "I haven't thought about the noise around the success of The Perseverance. I've just aligned myself with the next book I had to write that felt urgent for me. It's called All The Names Given and loosely examines the life of my grandfather, who was a preacher, and my mother, as well becoming newly married, which was a surprise for me. The real theme of the book is time, history and intimacy. It's coming out with in September and I can't wait for it to be in the world."
Watch Raymond Antrobus' Poetry Centre Stage, which goes live on Thursday at 7:30.
Hannah Raymond-Cox’s collection Amuse Girl was one of the highlights of our 2019 list. As she prepared to MC this year’s StAnza Slam - Sleepover Style, we asked Hannah whether the last year had changed the course of her writing:
"The last year allowed me to really focus on what kind of poetry I wanted to write," she said. "I was coming to the tail end of my time as a Barbican Young Poet, where I had the chance to see a cross-section of poets’ work, and learn what I responded to creatively. I have been steadily moving into interactive and immersive work across all my artistic practices, and decided that I would want my poetry to do the same, to push boundaries of form. Audio and visual stimulus is very fun, but in a world where live arts have been severely impacted, I wanted to think about sustainable and accessible poetry that speaks to an audience hungry for narrative choice. With that in mind, I’ve been developing an interactive digital and physical poetry installation game centred on memory loss and grief with Jeff Tanton at Mediatonic."
Watch the StAnza slam on Saturday night, and check out Hannah's interactive poetry tour of St Andrews.
We will publish Desree’s book I Find My Strength in Simple Things in May. She will be performing in Sunday’s Poetry Café, a lunchtime slot regularly filled in recent years by a Burning Eye poet. We asked her what she felt were the best characteristics of the performance poetry world:
"The community," she said. "There is a sense of family within the performance poetry world that comes with seeing people, often, more than twice a week. That coupled with the fact that a lot of the time due to the nature of our work, it means that we tend to know a lot about each other. Another thing that I love about the performance poetry world is that, in the dark rooms, sometimes in the basement of pubs, is where revolution feels possible. Though it can often be described as an echo chamber (and don’t get me wrong, it can be), it can provide the fuel to go out into the wider world and demand change."
Check out Desree's Poetry Cafe, which goes live on Sunday at 1pm.
Categories: News
DURA @StAnza21: Creating and connecting through art
Tuesday 9 March 2021, 22:08
Festivals through zoom... who would have thought we’d be here a year ago? Nevertheless, we persevere, and this year's StAnza is proving to be a breath of fresh air for our rather stale state of living in lockdown. Tuesday kicked off with an Inspire Session from Joelle Taylor in which she discussed the concept of page fright: a blank wall or a window depending on your perspective. Her advice was to pick a line at random from any book, write it down on paper then continue to write, keeping pen to page for five minutes and letting whatever comes to mind flow. As a student with deadlines approaching and stress mounting, this advice is very welcome!
Astra PapachristodoulouNext came the Meet the Artists portion of the day, hosted over zoom by Chris McCabe, Astra Papachristodoulou and Jinhao Xie. Today's focus was Instagram Poetry, a fitting form for our virtual festival. With a rich and diverse history of visual poetry, this newest medium is reaching younger audiences and attracting a new generation of poets. Astra introduced us to her innovative sculpture poetry, made from bio resin, and inspired by her interest in natural elements. Thinking back to the inspire session, it seems Instagram provides a digital blank page, more suited to showcasing this form of visual poetry than the limitations of paper.
Jinhao finds the creative freedom of Instagram similarly liberating, posting first drafts on their platform in order to share the flaws involved in the creative process. This way of sharing edits with their audience allows for a more immediate and personal connection to their fanbase than traditional publication. For both poets, Instagram allows them to reach a wider audience, but more importantly to connect with other artists. I find this idea of community particularly appealing during lockdown, as a way to share creatively online while government restrictions prevent us from meeting in person.
Later in the day we joined Will Harris for the Poets at Home session, a new feature for StAnza. Recorded on his phone and laptop, the session gave us an inside look at the creative process behind making poetry. Despite the virtual medium, this felt very personal, and chimed with earlier discussion in the Meet the Artists section about using technology to connect and share creatively. From handwritten notes jotted down on paper, to photographs and screen shots of media found on the internet, this segment felt archival in nature. The process of creating poetry has been the main focus of today’s events, and I’ve enjoyed learning more about how each poet happens across their inspiration.
Jinhao XieMy last poetry fix of the day came from the Poetry Centre Stage in the evening. Sitting with a cup of tea in the comfort of my living room, I was transported around the world while listening to Tim Liardet and Naomi Shihab Nye. Poetry spoken out loud from the poet themselves is always a magical experience, and this event was no exception. The readings felt intimate, and like the rest of the events today I came away with a sense of connection. I guess that speaks to the power of poetry, its ability to cross borders, to elevate the personal to the collective. And what better place to experience and enjoy poetry than StAnza?
Jessica Stevenson
Categories: News
DURA's StAnza 2021 reviews: Collective Amnesia
Tuesday 9 March 2021, 20:30
In her poem ‘hand-me-downs’, placed boldly near the very beginning of her debut collection Collective Amnesia, South African poet Koleka Putuma writes: ‘I have learnt how to say my glass is half full even when it’s broken’. This collection as a cohesive entity offers no such pretence or platitude. Beautiful, thought-provoking, and scorching in its honesty, Collective Amnesia is a cathartic pouring-forth of words left unsaid for far too long.
Putuma’s poetry is heavily intertwined with her own identity. Here, she explores what it means to be a womxn (her own insistent terminology) in a world where men feel entitled to your space and your body; what it means to be a lesbian under the eyes of Christianity, or under the hands of a lover; what it means to be a Black South African living in a country that white people laid unjust colonial claim to.
You can’t go up the mountain without going past my property,
She says.
I ask if she owns the mountain
And she says she owns this land.
(‘mountain’)
Much of the third act of the collection, ‘Postmemory’ (following ‘Inherited Memory’ and ‘Buried Memory’), picks apart the hypocrisy of colonizers and their descendants claiming they can own anything on stolen land. ‘mountain’ in particular focuses on how unthinkable it should be for someone to take a mountain in a country they essentially invaded and claim it as private property – and yet it happens, with mountains, with people, with ways of life. The repetition in this poem, over and over again, describing how colonialism and its knock-on effects wear one down little by little, is exquisite. It gives the impression that while this collection is powerful on paper, it could be transcendent if performed aloud.
Her prose carries something of Audre Lorde in it – both ephemerally and quite literally. Putuma goes as far as to name her as part of her ‘lifeline’ in what is presented as the poem-that-is-not-a-poem of the same name.
Several of the poems in Collective Amnesia tell stories that so enrapture you to the point where you find yourself carried across several pages before you remember to blink. Others take the opposite approach, though both have equal power....
This is an excerpt of a review by Simon Jordan. For more information on Koleka Putuma and her digital installation of Collective Amnesia at StAnza21, please click HERE. To read the whole review, go to the DURA webpage.
Categories: News
Catch up with the SPL, a regular visitor at StAnza
Monday 8 March 2021, 14:24
Colin Waters from the Scottish Poetry Library shares news from the library.
Has it been a year since the last StAnza? It seems like yesterday…and a decade, the temporal equivalent of the famous shot in Hitchcock’s Vertigo where the camera zooms in while tracking out. As I recall it, news of the oncoming pandemic was bearing down hard on StAnza last year as it took place, which led to the Library reluctantly cancelling its trip up to St Andrews and an interview we planned to record for our podcast.
Since then, many of us have discovered the joys of video-conferencing and online readings. The show will go on! The return of StAnza as we leave the season of Covid hell is like a dove reappearing with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. We at the SPL are looking forward to tuning into an irresistible line-up of fresh talent and mature voices.
It’s been a heck of a year for the SPL too, as you can imagine. In common with every arts organisation in Scotland, we faced the dilemma of how to continue our services when the heart of our business – our building, where our collection is housed and our events are staged – was out of bounds. So, we evolved.
In terms of borrowing, we now offer a ‘click and collect service’, where borrowers, after consulting our catalogue, which can be accessed by our website, call or email us to say which titles they’d like. After that, they can come down to the Library in person, where a member of staff will safely hand them their books at the entrance. We also offer free postal loans.
We recently invested in a new website to better present digital content. As a result we were able to adapt more agilely to lockdown through the commissioning of films and online activity that can be accessed at home and in the classroom. With live events not possible, we looked into how we could share poetry with our audience, particularly on significant dates on the poetry calendar. For National Poetry Day, we filmed John Hegley in the Library reading his work and speaking with fellow poet Michael Pedersen. As the year ended, we filmed a 30-minute introduction to the Library, its work and history, featuring poets Louise Peterkin and R.J. Arkhipov, and hosted by Saltire Prize-winner Janette Ayachi, who turned out to be a natural (BBC Scotland, hire her now!).
For Burns Night, we commissioned three pieces featuring Dundee’s Morgan Academy, writer and presenter Alistair Heather and Scots language advocate Lennie Pennie reading Burns poems. We also commissioned a series of short films featuring James Robertson and Sheena Blackhall, two of Scotland’s leading proponents of Scots language. In conversation with Alistair Heather, the poets selected and shared favourite children’s poems that they think young people and teachers would enjoy as much as they do. Finally, our film Pass the Mic, hosted by Vic Galloway and featuring performances by Courtney Stoddart, Victoria McNulty and Kevin Gilday, was a joyous ‘virtual ceildh’. Supported by the Scottish Government, it was produced by the Scottish Poetry Library as part of the Robert Burns and Winter Festivals cultural programme.
We placed these films on our website, YouTube and all the places you would expect – and have had an astonishing response. The 30 minute film of Sheena Blackhall talking about children’s poems in Scots has been watched all the way through over by 8,000 people and ‘reached’ another 50,000 via Facebook alone. When in pre-pandemic days we held events in the building, at best we could contain an audience of 60 people. Video and social media have opened up opportunities for connecting audiences with poetry. Hell of a way to find out just how effective, sure, but once the world opens up again, we anticipate continuing to work on video, although of course we’ll also be looking forward to staging our first live events. I’m sure StAnza is also relishing the thought also of a return to safe in-person events. The world is waking up and there is no better place to be (virtually this year) than StAnza.
Categories: News
St Mungo’s Mirrorball – Celebrating StAnza 2021 on the Clyde
Sunday 7 March 2021, 09:43
Gillian Dawson of St Mungo's Mirrorball looks forward to some highlights at StAnza.
Our One Drives are prompting us to ‘Relive this Day’ in years past with photos of Jannetta’s ice cream cones held against blue skies, snowdrops and snow, and always the Byre, bookshops, streets, cafés packed with poets. Although we’ll miss the frisson of St Andrews this time, we’re looking forward to immersing ourselves, virtually, in StAnza 2021 on the banks of the Clyde.
St Mungo’s Mirrorball, the Glasgow network of poets and poetry lovers, have always had strong links with the festival as partners, participants and audience members and this year’s online programme is no different with an enticing line up of poets and poetry events, many featuring Mirrorball members. Here are our hot picks of the week to come:
A highlight of StAnza is the Risk a Verse open mic. This year’s open mic is a joint StAnza–St Mungo’s Mirrorball live webcast on Friday 12th March, 9-10pm which poet, writer, editor and Mirrorball member, Sam Tongue will MC on Zoom. Dust off a poem, limber up your lips and tongue and come along for the ride. The Festival Café will be also open as a separate social room if you want to chill out.
2020 marked the beginning of Mirrorball’s partnership with the Edwin Morgan Trust. The inaugural Scots Makar, a Glasgow-based poet with an international view, Edwin Morgan is close to our hearts and we were excited to launch Clydebuilt 13, the 13th year of our innovative verse apprenticeship scheme as part of the #EdwinMorgan100 celebrations. We’re sure you’ll be delighted as we are to find these Edwin Morgan events in this year’s StAnza programme:
- Past & Present: Edwin Morgan – Tuesday 9th, 6.30-7.15pm – A StAnza/Free Vers(e) podcast on queer poetry and history discussing all things Edwin Morgan: what’s not to love?
- Poetry Centre Stage: Mona Kareem, Michael Grieve – Friday 12th, 5-6pm – Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2020 shortlisted poet, Michael Grieve reads.
- Concrete Scotland – Saturday 6th–Wednesday 10th – A feast your eyes and synapses, this Digital Installation including examples of Edwin Morgan’s first concrete poetry.
If you’re looking for some top tips from some great poets, look no further than the Inspire Sessions, 12.00–12.10pm each day. We’ll have our notebooks at the ready for writing hints from these Mirrorballers:
- John Glenday – Monday 8th – Unmissable, encouragement and advice from an award-winning poet and mentor.
- Gerry Cambridge – Wednesday 10th – Poet and editor of The Dark Horse shares how favourite poets have influenced his writing.
- Mhairi Owens – Friday 12th – The first poet writing in Scots to win the main prize in the Wigtown Poetry Competition shares how making mayonnaise might help writing poetry… we’re intrigued!
- Shehzar Doja – Saturday 13th – Find your creative spark with prompts from poet and editor of The Luxembourg Review.
Between the Covers audio readings: if there’s a more relaxing way to untether from the stresses of the day and float away than listening to poetry, we can’t think of one. Two more Mirrorball members to help round off your day, thanks to StAnza:
- Larry Butler – Thursday 11th, 10-10.15pm – Unwind with playful poetry, hopeful poetry, contemplative poetry from teacher of tai chi, trainer of wellbeing practitioners and poet.
- Sheila Templeton – Friday 12th, 10-10.15pm – Four times winner of the James McCash Scots Language Competion, Sheila promises to read in her best bed-time-story voice: prepare to be soothed by her melodic poems in Scots and English.
One of the pleasures of StAnza is the Poetry Market, so many tempting books and pamphlets to take home to add to that teetering pile on your bedside table. It’s such a relief to see there will be a virtual Poetry Market on Sunday 14th, 2.30-3.15pm, a Breakout Room Zoom to browse and speak to publishers and stall holders, the chance of a serendipitous purchase which becomes a life-long favourite.
Like StAnza, St Mungo’s Mirrorball has gone digital. We continue to run monthly poetry Showcase events on Zoom which allows us to connect with poets and poetry lovers much further afield than was otherwise possible.
Visit Mirrorball's website or find them on Facebook and Twitter. If you’d like to join the Mirrorball, please email Jim Carruth: jimcarruth63@gmail.com
Categories: News
DURA's StAnza 2021 reviews: Palimpsest
Saturday 6 March 2021, 10:54
To consider Clive Birnie as a poet or an artist might be unnecessarily limiting. Both his artistic and written talent are on show in Palimpsest, the eighth of an experimental sequence of writing, whose vibrant aesthetics are indicative of his sincere love for visual art forms. Birnie’s previous endeavours include Cutting Up the Economist and Hashtagpoetry#: The Hidden Poetry of Twitter, Cut up, Painted and Posted to Instagram. In this poetry pamphlet palimpsest appears in two guises, as an innovative creative technique, and the name of a mystifying protagonist; Birnie borrows words from other works, and uses a sequence of poems to tell the story of Palimpsest – a revenge murderer.
Welcome to the world.
Be square
and divide
cut the problem small
take shortcuts wherever possible.
The story unfolds unwillingly in a matter of thirty poems. Each untitled poem is created from scraps of other texts, and builds to a commentary on the spontaneous yet restrictive contemporary world, following a perplexing and bewildering story that often leaves any true sense of plot to the reader’s own calculations. Matching the distorted style, is the narrative perspective, shifting as it does between first and third person.
A protagonist who touches on dark topics with the lightest of hands, turns a story of murder into a lively social commentary – this is the pronounced matrix at the heart of Palimpsest....
This is an excerpt of a review by Mhari Aitchison of Clive Birnie's Palimpsest. For more information on Birnie at StAnza21, please click HERE. To read the whole review, go to the DURA webpage.
Categories: News
