Slama acknowledges that our slam takes place in Naarm, on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded, no treaty was signed and it always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
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*This venus is wheelchair accessible via chair lift
*This venue has gender neutral toilets
Back on a premiere stage and in our new home, the Brunswick Ballroom
Slama is a space where we celebrate intersectional community and encourage Artists to bring their absolute best work to the stage.
After 8 slams in a row throughout 2022/2023 we have finally come to the end of the season!
On June 20th we will see 12 of our finalists who have made it into our GRAND SLAM compete for a coveted top spot on ‘Team Slama’ comprising five poets who will write, create and perform together.
They will hopefully help us rebuild our community and the momentum we lost through the pandemic so we can get back to representing Melbourne on international stages worldwide.
We will also be crowning our 1st place grand slam champion.
Our 12 Competing Finalists are:
Hayley
Katie
Jag
Steph
Hawraa
Jason
Lane
Antonio
Awale
Hael
Tyrnyr
Corrine
*This list is in no particular order. To see final leaderboard scores and standings go to our IG page @slamalamaslam
And can you believe - it’s previous Slama Champions Thabani Tshumna (2019) and Josh Cake (2021) whose poems and jokes will take us into the finals in two feature sets!
WHO IS THABANI TSHUMNA?
Thabani Tshuma is a Zimbabwean writer and performance poet. His work can be found in publications such as Dichotomi magazine, Next in Colour, and Cordite. Co-curator of Thin Red Lines, a 2019 Hotdesk fellowship recipient with the Wheeler Centre, Featured author with Djed Press, Slamalamadingdong’s 2019 Grand Slam champion, ranked among the top 50 slam poets worldwide at IWPS 2019, and winner of all major awards at the 2019 Melbourne Spoken Word Prize. Writing is the aperture through which he views the world and experiences self in relation to others.
WHO IS JOSH CAKE?
Josh Cake makes poetry, music, and comedy for contexts ranging from Canadian spoken word to Icelandic cabaret, from US video games to Chinese university workshops, from TEDx to the ABC, from the Poetry Brothel Paris to the National Gallery of Victoria. Josh has held performance residencies in Australia, Italy, and France, and has published poems in Cordite, Breakwater Review, and Teesta Review. The winner of the Best Multilingual Performer award from Arts de Paris, the Best Multidisciplinary Artist from the Whitlam Awards, and the Peseroff Poetry Prize from the University of Massachusetts, Josh teaches writing and performance workshops as well as one-on-one coaching. In 2023, Josh is taking his spoken word album 'words to regret when I’m better at editing' on a final Australian east coast circuit before commencing a year long world tour in November.
3-ROUND POETRY SLAM
- No props, music or costume.
- Poems must be 3 minutes.
- Must be original work.
All scores are accumulated throughout the season and the poets with the top scores make it into our Grand Slam. At this event the top five placing poets become a team, write together and get the opportunity to travel and compete in international poetry slams.
TUESDAY JUNE 20 2023
THE BRUNSWICK BALLROOM
314 SYDNEY ROAD, BRUNSWICK
TICKETS:
$25 full
$23 concession
Limited tickets available on the door.
DOORS: 6 PM
POET’S PRE-SHOW GATHERING: 6:15 PM
SHOW STARTS: 6:30 PM
SHOW FINISH: 9:45 PM (for all you 9-5 folk)
SLAMALAMA WHAT!!!?????
SLAMALAMADINGDONG!!!!!!
OPEN DOOR POLICY:
We will never turn anyone away. Selling tickets allows us to pay our producers, venue and artists appropriately. It also helps us make a small profit margin so we can continue to thrive and grow as an organization. We donate 2% of our income to Pay the Rent.
This being said, if you are struggling financially and feel the need to participate, please advocate for yourself and send us a message so we can find a way to make sure you can participate in all the Slama goodness.
A big thank you to our beautiful community for showing up each month and helping us rebuild post pandemic.
A big thank you to the Brunswick Ballroom for hosting us and treating us so well.