The original Pedlar

That was the question on everyone’s lips at StAnza’s Dundee Preview last week which took place at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.

Duncan of Jordanstone’s Tracy MacKenna, who with Edwin Janssen is creating the Pedlar project, introduced the concept to an eager audience. The Pedlar is a character inspired by the eighteenth century street seller of ballads and poems. He will be out and about on the streets of St Andrews during StAnza 2012 distributing posters that combine poetry with visual images. Roaming the town, the Pedlar will create encounters with StAnza’s audience and participants, shopkeepers and St Andrews residents, by calling and reading out poems. The Pedlar’s activities will be accessible online, updated daily in image and text.

Festival director Eleanor Livingstone outlined the festival’s programmes and themes, and Dundee based Andy Jackson led readings from his new anthology Split Screen, poems inspired by cult TV and film programmes, which will be launched at the festival. If your early youth was misspent in front of the goggle box or in the local cinema, this is the book for you.

Have look at our brochure online and check our website for more about events and participants. Tickets can be booked online or through the Byre Theatre Box Office 01334 475000

The fun happens from 6-7pm at the Lower Foyer Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, 13 Perth Road, Dundee, DD1 4HT. The building is at the west end of the university campus and opposite the top of the Roseangle.

The college has been working in collaboration with StAnza on projects related to visual art, including the Poetry Pedlar, a character based on the traditional pedlar of ballad sheets and verses, who will be roaming the streets of St Andrews during the festival in March. One of the many surprises in store. Not long now!

Museum of the University of St Andrews

We’ve got together this year with MUSA, the Museum of the University of St Andrews  to offer poets the chance to write about some of the special objects on display. MUSA Curator Amy Dale explains:

Surprisingly, this year will be the first time we work in partnership with StAnza to help celebrate the upcoming poetry festival. As part of Scotland’s International Poetry Festival we are inviting people to contribute alternative labels for objects on display in MUSA. We have picked five items from the collection, which we hope will inspire you to write a short poem. Go to our Blog at http://museumoftheuniversityofstandrews.wordpress.com/  to view the items. The best entries will be made into labels and displayed next to the object. We haven’t given much background information about the items as we want your imagination to run wild.

• submit poems by email to  ad458@st-andrews.ac.uk
• Poems should be a maximum of six lines so they fit in the display cases.
• Please write in your email which object you were inspired by

We are really pleased to be part of such an exciting festival and look forward to reading your creative entries. If anyone would like further information about any of the objects to inform their writing please contact me on the email address above.

Amy Dale, MUSA Collections Curator

Reblogged from http://museumoftheuniversityofstandrews.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/stanza-2012/

Reblogged from Museum Collections Blog:

Surprisingly, this year will be the first time we work in partnership with StAnza to help celebrate the upcoming poetry festival. As part of Scotland’s International Poetry Festival we are inviting people to contribute alternative labels for objects on display in MUSA. We have picked five items from the collection, which we hope will inspire you to write a short poem. The best entries will be made into labels and displayed next the the object. We haven’t given much background information about the items as …

We’ve got together with MUSA to offer poets the chance to write about some of the special objects on display. MUSA Curator Amy Dale explains:

This beautiful and intriguing image of a boat (chosen to celebrate the theme of The Image) is from a painting by Derek Robertson and is a visual response to lines by Skye poet Rody Gorman. Is it a boat or an island or both? Robertson described his collaboration with Gorman thus: ‘Rody and I met in Skye several years ago and became friends’, says Derek. ‘Rody suggested that we work together on a project, and I produced paintings in response to his poems, and these were exhibited in Skye last year. Subsequently, I have done some paintings developing a few of these poems further, and a small collection of watercolours responding to Rody’s new collection of poems “Beartan Briste”. The Long-lines piece used for the brochure was a response to Rody’s poem of the same name which refers to places in Skye where Rody lives and where I visit. The pieces of landscape refer to fishing nets, boats, drying poles and other aspects of the landscape in that corner of the island.’

The exhibition ‘Ruaridh agus Ruaridh Eile’ will be on display at Fife Contemporary Arts & Crafts, in the Town Hall in St Andrews during StAnza in March. Meanwhile, plan your visit to the festival with a look through the brochure.

Gerry Cambridge

Next week sees the launch of the StAnza brochure, which will be on display, fresh from the printers, at two events in Edinburgh. Festival Director Eleanor Livingstone will be showcasing the festival to literature professionals at the UNESCO City of Literature  Salon on Tuesday 31st January. This precedes the StAnza Preview, open to the public, which takes place at the National Library of Scotland, 1st February at 6pm. There will be samples of what to expect from Gerry Cambridge  of The Dark Horse fame, who will be appearing at StAnza, and from Andy Jackson and poets contributing to his new anthology, Split Screen, which will be officially launched at the festival in March. All this, plus music from Stretch Dawrson of the Mending Hearts Trio (below), who are bringing some Western swing to StAnza’s Finale. It promises to be a delightful hour of entertainment – to secure a place at this free event, contact the NLS.

Creative Place Awards 2012 - Winner's logo

Three cheers and hats in the air for St Andrews! The town won a Creative Places Award today, a new award scheme overseen by Creative Scotland, and received £150,000 in the category for places with fewer than 100,000 residents. The awards were announced at a special ceremony in Edinburgh today and StAnza’s Festival Director Eleanor Livingstone attended. What a great start to 2012, the Year of Creative Scotland.  St Andrews will be hosting its own Year of Celebration in 2012 and the award will allow the town to promote its already rich cultural programme to the UK and international visitors and to support a new community musical theatre production as the year’s centre piece production. The application was submitted on behalf of various cultural and marketing organisations active in town with the Byre Theatre as lead organisation. StAnza contributed to the submission.

For a pic of the winning teams, looking very pleased (and so they should) and more about their plans, see the link below:

http://www.creativescotland.com/news/2012-creative-place-award-winners-announced-24012012

The project is being supported by EventScotland. The successful applicant should have proven experience in film-making and have enthusiasm for poetry and the arts. This is a short-term freelance commission paying a single fixed VAT inclusive fee of £500 with agreed expenses up to a maximum of a further £400. The deadline is 15 February for applications.

For a full job description, please contact Eleanor Livingstone at  director@stanzapoetry.org.

Robert Crawford, one of Scotland’s leading poets and currently Professor of Modern Scottish Literature, and PhD students from the School of English at the University will lead three early evening sessions from 5.30pm-7.30pm on Wednesdays 1^st, 15^th and 29^th February in the Conference Room at St Katherine’s West at 16 The Scores, St Andrews KY16 9AX. To book a free place contact Ruth Harris or Debbie Wilbraham on 01333 462275 or open.association@st-andrews.ac.uk.