Vancouver Poetry Slam
Hello, My Name is Van Slam
The Vancouver Poetry Slam has been wowing audiences since 1996, making it the longest-running poetry slam in Canada.
- When: Every Monday
- Where: Café Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive)
- How much: Only $5
- Who: YOU!
1st, 3rd & 5th Monday: Open Slam 2nd Monday: Alternative/Themed Slam 4th Monday: Youth Slam (ages 13 - 22)
What is a Poetry Slam?
The poet must perform a poem of their own creation, in any style, within 3 minutes without the aid of props or music.
5 randomly selected audience members will become judges and are given score cards to score the poet from zero to 10.
The poets with the highest scores after 2 rounds of poems are the winners of cash prizes. Every slam has 12 spots open for poets with the top 5 going on to the 2nd round.
Upcoming Events
Van Slam Qualifies Poets for Tournaments
Performance poetry tournaments are popping up all over North America. It seems like there's a new one each year! The Vancouver Poetry Slam has various seasons throughout the year, in which poets can qualify for playoff rounds by winning a slam. We host three separate playoff events: the team playoffs (for NPS & CFSW), the individual playoffs (for IWPS) and the all-woman playoffs (for WOWps).
National Poetry Slam
The grand-daddy of them all. The largest annual gathering of poets in one place. The biggest poetry slam tournament on planet Earth.
In 2009, Van Slam will send one team composed of 4 poets. The qualifying season runs from September 2008 until March 16, 2009. Semi-final playoff rounds will be held on March 30 and April 6. Finals Night will be on April 20.
- NPS 2008 was hosted by Madison, Wisconsin.
- NPS 2009 will be hosted by Orlando, Florida.
Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
CFSW is the gathering of the best performance poets in Canada. It is organized by Spoken Word Canada, or SPOCAN. (The other three tournaments listed here are organized by Poetry Slam Incorporated.)
The Van Slam team selected at Finals Night represents Vancouver at both NPS and CFSW, so the qualifying season and playoffs for this tournament are the same as for NPS.
- CFSW 2008 was hosted by Calgary in November.
- CFSW 2009 will be hosted by Victoria, BC.
Individual World Poetry Slam
Pronounced "iWhips" by those who know and love it well, this is the showdown of the best performance poets at work today. The 2008 IWPS in Charlotte had 70 participants
The 2009 IWPS qualifying season in Vancouver will run from May 2009 until September 2009. The playoff round to determine Vancouver's representative will be in September 2009.
- IWPS 2008 was hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- IWPS 2009 will be hosted by Berkeley, California in October.
Women of the World Poetry Slam
An all-woman event created by women for women poetry slam competitors. Poets who live their lives as women will be eligible to participate in WOWps. The 2008 WOWps had 50 participants.
The qualifying season for WOWps 2009 wrapped up in December 2009. The playoff round to determine Vancouver's representative is on January 5, 2009.
- WOWps 2008 was hosted by Detroit, Michigan.
- WOWps 2009 will again be hosted by Detroit.
Van Slam's National Slammaster: Sean McGarragle
Sean McGarragle is a sitting board member for the Spoken Word Arts Network, the current chair for Spocan: a collection of spoken word series organizers within Canada and the founder of the West Coast Poetry Festival, the Bolts of Fiction Literary Association and a board member of the Vancouver Poetry House.
Sean has toured Canada and parts of the United States as a spoken word artist and has shared stages with spoken word stalwarts such as Lillian Allen, Shane Koyczan, Ken Mitchell, Dwayne Morgan, Andrea Thompson and Sheri-D Wilson.
“The Vancouver Poetry Slam is the most successful reading series / spoken word series in Canada not because we have the best poets (which we do), not because we get the most funding (which we don’t) but because our audience is the best in the country. Even before you’ve stepped onto our stage they already love you. And we try to cultivate that wherever possible”
Van Slam's International Slammaster: Lisa Slater
Lisa Slater, International Slammaster for the Vancouver Poetry Slam, has been writing and performing for over ten years. She featured at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in 2004 and 2006, and finished 20th overall in the inaugural Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit, Michigan in 2008.
Lisa works in the nonprofit sector, and has a strong commitment to social justice. Her work is infused with these themes, as well as love, personal history and identity. She became involved as an organizer in poetry slams in 2005 and hasn't looked back.
“The thing that I love most about slam poetry is its democracy. So often, art is meant to be enjoyed by an elite group of in-the-know critics and fellow artists. Slam poetry is about bringing it back to the audience, and asking the audience to define good art. You get people who have been closeted writers for years, suddenly discovering this venue for them to share their work with other people... it can be explosive.”
