Sydney Theatre Co Presents THE AUSTRALIAN POETRY SLAM 2010

Word Travels in association with Sydney Theatre Company presents THE AUSTRALIAN POETRY SLAM 2010

State Final - 19 November 2010 at 8.00pm
National Final - 5 December 2010 at 5.00pm
Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

Sydney Theatre is host to both the State and National Finals of The Australian Poetry SLAM 2010, the largest writing and performance competition in the southern hemisphere, on 19 November and 5 December 2010 respectively.

NSW State Final
After six months of hard-core heats - from Wagga to Lismore, Grenfell to Glebe - word slingers from around New South Wales battle it out with their best two minutes of poetry, stories, lyrics and monologues for the State Final at the Richard Wherrett Studio, Sydney Theatre on 19 November at 8pm.

National Final
Two winners from this State Final will then take on the mightiest, tightest spoken-word artists from all over Australia in the National Final of The Australian SLAM on the main stage of Sydney Theatre on 5 December 2010 at 5.00pm. Australia's SLAM Champion wins an all expenses paid trip to The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and a tour of China with the Beijing Bookworm International Writers Festival.

The National Final is hosted by internationally acclaimed spoken-word performer Miles Merrill who says: "The Australian SLAM is not a poetry reading. It's more like Hilltop Hoods mashed with Obama, a line of Paul Kelly, a few pinches of Judith Lucy, and a test tube of Les Murray all vying for audience love."

With 32 heats in regions across the country, The Australian Poetry Slam unearths thousands of new writers every year. The 2009 SLAM Champion, Sarah Taylor, a 60-year-old retired librarian from Newcastle, has now produced a book, cd and website and is touring internationally. Omar Musa, a Muslim hip-hop artist from Queanbeyan, won the slam in 08. In June 2010 he opened for Gil Scott-Heron in Munich.

Poetry slams began in Chicago in 1984. They were introduced to Australia in 1996 by two Chicago-born spoken-word artists, Miles Merrill and Phil Norton, who started running slams in the Sandringham Hotel in Sydney's Newtown. Prizes were twenty dollars and a bottle of Poet's Corner. Now, universities, schools, festivals and dozens of cultural institutions have held SLAM events, with the burgeoning interest spawning TV shows and feature films.

Box Office: (02) 9250 1777. sydneytheatre.com.au
All Tickets: $25 (transaction fees may apply)
More info: www.australianpoetryslam.com

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