A remarkable thing about StAnza is the way in which each festival is shaped as much by many of the events which you somehow miss as those which you see. Each year in advance of the festival, we can be found geeking out over the programme. ‘Jacqueline Saphra on Edna St Vincent Millay!’ you’ll hear us cry. ‘Romanian filmpoems! A. E. Stallings reading in the main theatre!’ Each year we tell ourselves that this year we’ll somehow manage to slip into all these events. And of course, each year when the time comes, a train is delayed or the all-important pies are arriving and the minutes slip by until we hear the audience leaving the event, excitedly commenting on Ishion Hutchinson’s remarks on the self in poetry or the presences and absences conjured by Mary Jean Chan.
The amazing thing, though, is the way that these events then permeate the festival. Like a pebble in a pond, each event casts ripples which grow ever wider, until they meet other ripples and join them to become something new and other and exciting. A conversation grows between poets, audiences and – indeed – events, so that you don’t need to have been to Nadine Aisha Jassat’s Story Café to join a discussion about the often disregarded history of Scottish female poets of colour.
This was perhaps particularly apt this year, when StAnza was part of A Year of Conversation, celebrating and exploring the power of dialogue in what can often feel like an increasingly fractured world. The conversations at StAnza this year were many and varied. Our collaboration with Magma’s Climate Change issue, for example, invited thoughts, poems and discussions which are still unnervingly prescient, including in a fascinating Poetry Breakfast on the theme of Another Place, asking how poetry can be ecological and political.
We also brought poetry Off the Page in one of our festival theme’s this year this year, perhaps most joyfully in HappenStance’s fantastic flashmob performance of The Jumblies, as well as our finale featuring the words and music of Edward Lear, which sent more than one of us home to dig out those old books of nonsense verse. Poetry was also brought out of books and around town, with Arne Rautenberg’s stunning visual poetry window stickers as well as in an intimate and evolving installation by Luke Pell, Lucy Cash and George Mario Angel Quintero.
Four months after the festival, we're still having joyful, thoughtful, surprising conversations sparked by moments and poems at StAnza 2019. The ripples continue to spread. As ever, a huge vote of thanks go to our talented poets and artists, our dedicated volunteers and our remarkable audiences – without whom this wouldn’t be a conversation at all.
AWARDS
StAnza 2019 was shortlisted for Outstanding Festival in The Herald Scottish Culture Awards 2019; and in the Scottish Arts, Culture and Sport category in the PRide Awards 2019.
StAnza 2019 : 6 - 10 March : Gallery
Photos of poets and others taking part in StAnza 2019 and some of our favourite venue or atmosphere shots of St Andrews
Articles
Poetry review: StAnza 2019 (The Scotsman: Susan Mansfield)
StAnza Poetry Festival Highlights (The Scotsman)
StAnza: International poets and voices converge on scenic Scottish shores (The List)
Programme announced for St Andrews poetry festival StAnza (Fife Today)
An Interview with Ben Norris (The Mumble)
Festival programme announced for StAnza 2019 (Scottish Field)
Island poets to take part in StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival (Stornoway Gazette)
Magma at StAnza (Magma Poetry)
Archers star Ben Norris to compere slam at StAnza festival (Write Out Loud)
International Women's Day 2019 Events Round-up: StAnza 2019 (The Skinny)
From Pottery to Poetry: StAnza 2019 (MUSA)
Young Poetry Fans are in for a Treat (The Tribe)
Accessible Days Out in Fife (Sarah Lex)
StAnza 2019 Commissions (MUSA)
Poetry festival line-up unveiled for 2019 (The Courier)
At StAnza: thinking beyond this map (Catherine Wilson)
Rare, powerful and exciting: Saturday at StAnza 2019 (Emma Gibb)
‘Human beings together’: Friday reflections (Georgi Gill)
Another Place: Thursday Reflections (Carly Brown)
Poetic Conversations (Carly Brown)
Podcasts and Videos
PDF with links to StAnza 2019 Articles, etc.
Articles, Podcasts and Videos from StAnza.pdf
The Arch
A collaboration which began at StAnza in 2018 has resulted in an e-book of photographs by Geart Tigchelaar and selected poems by William Soutar, which can be seen at this link: The Arch - poems and photographs.pdfInformation
StAnza 2019 took place from 6-10 March, 2019
StAnza 2019 Brochure online >>
Festival themes
Our themes for StAnza 2019 were Another Place and Off the Page.
Participants
Funding for 2019
StAnza was funded by Creative Scotland, EventScotland and Fife Council and supported by the University of St Andrews, the School of English, St Andrews Community Trust, St Leonards and StayInStAndrews, with additional support for 2019 from ProHelvetia, the Hungarian Cultural Centre London and the Goethe-Institut.