StAnza,  Scotland's International Poetry Festival runs through to the 21st March. The festival features: Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Don Paterson, Vicki Feaver, Jen Hadfield, Matthew Sweeney, Moniza Alvi, Dennis O’Driscoll, Grevel Lindop and Kei Miller.

To this stellar list of poets, who will be at the heart of the Poetry Centre Stage evenings at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews, there has been added two outstanding performers of poetry. Linton Kwesi Johnson is known as the father of ‘dub poetry’. Born in Jamaica, he grew up in London and has established his reputation not just as a poet, but as a musician, journalist and political activist. He is the only black poet and the second living poet to have been included in the prestigious Penguin Modern Classics series. Canadian poet Shane Koyczan is the slam supremo. No stranger to Scotland - he was the toast of the Edinburgh International Book Festival a few years ago - Koyzcan is an example of how spoken word poetry is appealing to an ever wider audience .

Koyczan is just one of a wide-ranging list of poets from overseas. Audiences can look forward to hearing two more poets from Canada, Karen Solie and the Gaelic language poet, Lewis MacKinnon, and from the USA, Rebecca Seiferle. Poets writing in languages other than English are also well represented: Víctor Rodríguez Núñez from Cuba, Luis Muños from Spain; Valerio Magrelli from Italy; Mario Susko from Croatia who now lives in New York; and Austria’s Andreas Unterweger and Germany’s Monika Rinck will feature in an international showcase of new voices with talented younger poets from the UK, including Gaelic poet Catriona Lexy Campbell.

StAnza celebrates poetry in all its forms and the 2010 festival pushes the boundaries even more with a plethora of art exhibitions, music, poetry films and children’s events. To complement Seamus Heaney’s events, there will be an exhibition of artworks by Brigid Collins who is well known for her work inspired by the written word. There will be an evening of Shetlandic poetry and music with aforementioned poets Christie Williamson, Christine De Luca and Lise Sinclair, jazz from Trio Verso and lively Irish folk from Galway band Dordán, who will accompany poets Matthew Sweeney and Moya Cannon in a special St Patrick’s Night celebration at the Byre Theatre.

The festival programme provides a rich mix of events that appeal to audiences of all ages. Over five days, over 50 world-class poets from Scotland, the UK, and beyond these shores will gather to take part in more than 75 events, exhibitions, installations, and projections. Poets take centre stage in the evenings at the Byre Theatre, at more intimate round table readings or in the fast-paced fun of the open mics. Poetry will be available over breakfast, at lunchtimes (with a pie and a pint at Poetry Cabaret - sessions including Kate Fox and Rachel Pantechnicon) or given a musical flavour, with Poetry Jazz and StAnza’s first - possibly the first-ever - ceilidh slam.

Full details: http://stanzapoetry.org/2010/eventsdate.php