Supported by The Second Life Awards, StAnza – Scotland’s International Poetry Festival – is holding an open call for two poets-in-residence to join the 2025 festival. Following a successful initial two years of the scheme in 2023 and 2024, these paid residencies aim to support and promote marginalised voices in poetry.

Two positions are available:

1. The Futurist Award – open to poets who are Scottish by birth or current residence;
2. The Translation Award – open to poets who write in a language other than English (including Gaelic & Scots), from any country.

Applicants are invited to send in proposals for new work that engages with the 2025 festival theme: How We Feel.

Artistic Director, Ryan Van Winkle, notes: “How We Feel as a provocation is about checking in with our emotions, it’s about how poetry handles feelings, how it can be a necessary outlet for rage, grief, love or joy. Or, thinking about Edwin Morgan’s evocative and sensually engaging poetry, How We Feel can also be about stimulating our senses on the page or in performance. I can’t eat a strawberry without thinking about Morgan.”

The Futurist Award: In both form and content Edwin Morgan was always looking towards the future and we seek to support a writer engaged in similar work. This could mean poems that explore new or emerging forms, experiment with genre such as speculative fiction, use different digital tools or make use of emerging platforms in an innovative fashion whilst being anchored by StAnza 2025’s provocation: “How We Feel”.

StAnza is particularly keen to hear from poets who align with Morgan’s own approach to poetry. This could include poets who take an inventive and playful approach to the brief, who engage with other disciplines, or are forwards rather than backwards looking. We are also very interested in applications that use live-art and performance.

Find out more about the positions and how to apply here: Open Call – StAnza Poets in Residence 2025.

Deadline for applications is Friday 24 January 2025 at 5.30pm, with successful applicants informed by Friday 7 February 2025.