Rob Waters and K.J. Hayward joint winners of the 2023 APS.
No need to shout, slam poets stand out
Sharpen your pencils, write down those words and practise those lines, so they’re honed to be heard, metered or not they don’t have to be rhymed, mould them into 2 minutes time!
This Slam poetry workshop will prepare you to hone your words and give you tips on performance of Slam Poetry. The facilitator, Rob Waters is the 2023 Australian Poetry Slam Champion. The New South Wales poet won the National Final on 8 October 2023 in a tie with K.J. Hayward. Rob is a Gomeroi man with deep cultural connections to the North West of NSW. He is a proud father and grandfather and now lives with his partner on Darkinjung Country. Rob is a poet, storyteller, cultural educator and spoken word artist and has been performing and sharing Story for over 20 years.
The workshop will begin at 6:30pm and go to 8:30 writing materials and implements are supplied. The cost is a suggested $15 donation to cover the cost of putting the workshop on.
Alright Northern NSW Regional poets. It is 2024 and the Australian Poetry Slam is in Guyra at the Australian Poetry Hall of Fame again.
There will be 20 positions available for the Australian poetry Hall of Fame Heat Guyra. Sign up will start at 6:30pm ON THE DOT. Slam begins at 7:00pm ON THE DOT And the first 20 to sign up are able to compete.
Rules: – Your poem cannot go longer than 2 minutes. – Every 30 seconds over 2 minutes will lose you a point – Your poem must be an original work – Your poem must not have been performed at a previous APS – You must be a NSW resident to compete – No musical accompaniment/costumes/props
Outside of that. Your poem is completely yours and can be about absolutely anything.
For those of you who have never been to an APS, it is a yearly Australia wide poetry competition with heats in all major states and cities. Winners from each heat will go onto State finals and from there winners will go onto the grand-final held at the Sydney Opera House.
Prizes include: – Title of Australian Poetry Slam Champion – A writers festival tour of Asia and Australia (Shows at Byron Writers Festival, Ubud Writers, Readers Festival, Singapore Writers Festival and Hong Kong International Literary Festival) – An artist residency with Bundanon Trust In New South Wales
There will be a guest host and slam workshop the evening before and workshops throughout July and August TBA!
Get practising!
EVENT INFO: Entry cost is a suggested $15 donation. Meals will be available from the Seahorse Medicine Cafe. call 0423478656 to prebook.