One of the UK’s biggest poetry festivals, Stanza at St Andrews, will be staged early next month, as the poetry festival season begins to get into gear. Poets from the US, New Zealand, Jamaica, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Sardinia, Mallorca, India, as well as the UK will be appearing at Scotland’s international poetry festival from 4-8 March. This year’s festival theme is An Archipelago of Poetry, bringing together a number of poets with island connections. Among the headliners are New Zealand’s Bill Manhire and America’s Carolyn Forché. Also on the bill are Forward prize winner, Jamaican-born Kei Miller, Sardinian-speaking poet Anna Cristina Serra, Denmark’s Martin Glaz Serup, and Kim Simonsen, who was born in the Faroe Islands. Other international names include Josep Lluís Aguiló, Carly Brown, John Dennison, Boris Dralyuk, Erin Fornoff, Ilya Kaminsky, Karthika Naïr, Alice Notley, Carlo Pirozzi, Jon Ståle Ritland, Anne Stevenson and Agnes Török.

British names include Simon Armitage, Helen Mort, Liz Berry, Sinéad Morrissey, Glyn Maxwell, Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Hollie McNish, Sheenagh Pugh,  and Ian Duhig. Elvis McGonagall will be compering the Stanza slam, on 7 March at 10.15pm in the Byre theatre. To take part, email your name, email, and mobile number to works@stanzapoetry.org. Places are limited. More details

 

 

MARCH 

Stanza poetry festival, St Andrews, 4-8 March

York literature festival, 19-29 March

 

APRIL

Cheltenham poetry festival, from 22 April 

Wenlock poetry festival, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 24-26 April 

 

MAY 

Cheltenham poetry festival, until 4 May 

 

JUNE

Poetry & Words, Glastonbury festival 24-28 June 

 

JULY

Ledbury poetry festival, 3-12 July