StAnza's Distant Voices festival programme complete

2 november 2009 Distant Voices is a one-day ‘virtual’ poetry festival, which will use the latest digital technology to link up poets from around the world. It is a first for StAnza and possibly the first time that poets from so many far flung places have been brought together in this way. Reading and performing at live events in their own countries, they will be linked up by satellite to the audience at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, Fife.

The line-up now includes poets in Sacramento, New York, London, the Isle of Skye, Stavanger, Ghent, Amsterdam, Geneva, Tbilisi, Vicenza and Mumbai. The live link to London will feature top-notch performances by two of the Poetry Society’s young Slambassadors. Amsterdam’s line-up includes StAnza favourite Tsead Bruinja and poet Cralan Kelder, whose ‘virtual’ appearance in a play at StAnza last March inspired the concept of Distant Voices. StAnza’s own talented poets are also beaming their performances back home: in Vicenza, Scotland’s most eminent poet, Douglas Dunn will be joining StAnza Festival Director Brian Johnstone and Italian poet and translator Marco Fazzini.

The day-long event is free and open to the public on a drop-in basis. However anyone coming a distance is invited to contact StAnza in advance on arts@stanzapoetry.org so that a place (or places) can be reserved for them. For more information visit www.stanzapoetry.org/virtual-festival.php.