]Today we‰’d like to give a shout out about some exciting things which will be new for StAnza 2021 – and yes, there‰’s quite a lot of new stuff. We‰’ve been keen to ensure that, as well as finding online ways to platform as many as possible of our regular StAnza events at our online festival in March, we also seize the opportunities of an online festival to offer new ways of experiencing poetry – and also to offer poetry offline at a distance.

First up there‰’s our Poets at Home events, in which we‰’re taking advantage of the fact that everyone‰’s filming from home to ask poets to introduce us to their writing process and setup, with Malika Booker, Sasha Dugdale, Ella Frears, Caroline Bird and Will Harris.

Also new for 2021 we‰’re bringing you poetry to listen to at bedtime with Between the Covers. Unwind at the end of the festival day with audio from Rachel Long, Larry Butler and Sheila Templeton.

We‰’re thrilled to be teaming up with some of our favourite podcasts for a new take on our Past & Present events for 2021, working with the Dead Ladies Show, FreeVers(e) and New Caribbean Voices from Peepal Press to learn about a range of poets who continue to inspire.

In another new partnership this year, we‰’ll have a children‰’s poetry trail created by beloved children‰’s author Jane Yolen at St Andrews Botanic Gardens. If covid regulations permit in March, for St Andrews locals this will be in the gardens, but we‰’ll also have an online version.

Watch out for news on Dial-A-Poem, which we will launch soon, then call up our poetry hotline to hear our poem of the week in the run-up to the festival – and if you‰’re lucky during StAnza 2021, you‰’ll get a personal reading from one of our operators, Catherine Wilson and Katie Hale.

Have you ever coveted the poetry window stickers to be seen throughout St Andrews over StAnza? This year for our Poetry Windows installation we‰’ll be making small self-stick window poems, so that you can adorn your favourite window with a poem for a while – they are self-cling and easy to remove.

We will also have Postcards to Poetry on postcards which we‰’d be happy to post to you, or to someone you nominate. The window stickers and postcards will be subject to supplies so if you‰’d one of either, be sure to email in quick. We‰’ll share more information about that in February.

Windows, or rather views from them, were also the inspiration for our project WindowSwap. Inspired by the online project of the same name, we invited twelve poets around the world to send us a photograph of the view from their window, and commissioned them to write a poem responding to the view from another poet‰’s window which we sent to them. The results have started to trickle in and are brightening our days here. We hope they‰’ll do the same for you in March.

Last but not least, we‰’re really excited about the poetry games we‰’ve commissioned for StAnza 2021 – from Calum Roger and Hannah Raymond-Cox. Check them out for a poetry tour of St Andrews, or to explore the parallels between poetry and retro-style video games.

Watch out for more news about a more traditional Past & Present session, plus this years readings, annual StAnza lecture and our Poetry Cafe sessions, and all our digital installations.