Scotland’s biggest poetry festival kicks off next week, with the Stanza festival celebrating live poetry in all its forms for five days at St Andrews. This year's two themes are Body of Poetry - poetry that engages with the human body, its needs, appetites and how it changes, and City Lines, with a strong focus on architecture for Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.

The festival is from 2 to 6 March and headline acts include Don Paterson, Andrew McMillan, Jo Bell, Lemn Sissay, Pascale Petit, Sean O’Brien, and John Burnside. They will be joined by Nora Gomringer from Germany, Swedish poet Aase Berg, Jane Yolen and Thomas Lynch from the US and Australian poet Sarah Holland-Batt, plus many, many more.

Other highlights include What's the point of poetry - images and text on culture and society from poets across Europe, Clive Birnie’s HashtagPoetry#, and a “quiet open mic”, as well as a noisier, late-night one. You can also check out Stanza’s poetry map of Scotland here. The festival has at its hub the Byre Theatre, but there are also events in other venues around St Andrews, including the town hall and St Johns, a medieval undercroft. Full details here 

PHOTOGRAPH: ALISTAIR KERR