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ACT heat of Australian Poetry Slam
I’ve just updated the events page with details of the ACT heat of the Australian Poetry Slam. This is the big one: $600 in prizes, plus your chance to win a shot at the national prize of $5000 and a gig at the 2010 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali!
Australian Poetry Slam ‘09 – ACT heat
6 November 6:00-10:00pm
Foyer National Library of Australia
Parkes Place
As in previous years you’ll need to book a slot by calling the library on (02) 6262 1271.
For the benefit of those who haven’t attended an Australian Poetry Slam before, the rules are slightly different to the slams at The Front. The time limit is 2 minutes, not 3. Also, there will be five audience members judging you out of 10 with the highest and lowest scores disregarded. If there’s a draw (as there has been on the previous two occasions) we’ll get you to perform a second piece – so make sure you prepare for this possibility!
Meanwhile, you’ll be able to practice your pieces at the Halloween Slam next week:
Halloween Slam
30 October 7:30-11:30pm
The Front Gallery and Café
Wattle St, Lyneham
We’ll be doing some special fun things for this slam, including awarding a prize for the scariest poem of the night!
It’s possible that this month’s slam may be the last one at The Front for the year, given that the ACT heat is next month and December’s slam will take place at the National Museum of Australia (more on that later).
I’ll be gauging people’s interest in a November Front slam next Friday so speak up if you want it to happen! Note that if it does go ahead it will probably be quite a low-key event.
Malcolm Miller
October 25th, 2009 at 8:02 am #
I won’t be at the Haloween Slam, as I’m going to an opening night, being a theatre person. So I wish you all a good night. I think that the American version of Halloween is best left in America; it’s neither a British nor an Australian tradition. We don’t need to take over ideas from the Americans – we are capable of our own, including our own kinds of poetry.
tomaz wahula
October 26th, 2009 at 7:10 pm #
Halloween (also spelled Hallowe’en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America during Ireland’s Great Famine of the 1840s.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween)
maybe a bit more tugging of the ol’ forelock eh?