StAnza Highlights: What to see at Scotland’s leading poetry festival

StAnza is one of the leading poetry events in the UK, with five days of readings, workshops, discussions, showcases and more. Here, Scotsman critic Susan Mansfield highlights three must-see shows

Jen Hadfield - one of the stars of this year's StAnza programme

1) Shetland poet Jen Hadfield became the youngest writer to win the TS Eliot Prize in 2008. She is now working on her fourth collection of poems which explores neurodiversity and will read from that and from other work on 5 March.



2) American poet Carolyn Forché has worked extensively in human rights as well as poetry, with a recent memoir chronicling her time working with writers in El Salvador. She will read with veteran Northern Irish poet Michael Longley in what is one of the most hotly anticipated events of the festival on 6 March.



3) StAnza is also known for insightful discussions on poetry with writers who are not themselves poets. Crime writer Val McDermid talks about her “desert island” poems with Jill Abram on 8 March.

StAnza runs from 4-8 March in various venues around St Andrews, see www.stanzapoetry.org