A poetry slam is a competitive arts event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. Culturally, poetry slams are a break from the past image of poetry as an elitist or rigid artform. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. Hip-hop music and urban culture are strong influences, and backgrounds of participants tend to be diverse.
Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open to improvisation.
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a "catchall" term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on phonaesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.
Naomi Shihab Nye is an American poet, editor, songwriter, and novelist. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she began composing her first poem at the age of six. In total, she has published or contributed to over 30 volumes of poetry. Her works include poetry, young-adult fiction, picture books, and novels. Nye received the 2013 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in honor of her entire body of work as a writer, and in 2019 the Poetry Foundation designated her the Young People's Poet Laureate for the 2019–21 term.
A poetry reading is a public oral recitation or performance of poetry.
Edwin Torres is a Nuyorican performance poet. His work incorporates vocal and physical improvisation. He is the author of Ameriscopia, One Night: Poems for the Sleepy, Yes Thing No Thing, and several other poetic books. He also has produced recordings titled Oceano Rise, Novo, and Holy Kid. He is a member of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school.
Michael Matthew McGee, more commonly known as Mighty Mike McGee, is an American slam poet.
Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, better known as simply Def Poetry Jam or Def Poetry, is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also include special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular Def Comedy Jam which began airing on HBO in the 1990s. As with Def Comedy, Simmons appears at the end of every episode to thank the audience.
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is a Chicano poet and activist.
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy, and theater. Several events during the PEN World Voices festival are hosted at the cafe.
SlamNation is a documentary film by director Paul Devlin. The film follows the National Poetry Slam in Portland, Oregon.
Trinidad Sanchez Jr. was a poet and activist who wrote about culture and social issues. He received several awards during his lifetime and was given the President's Peace Commission Art of Peace award posthumously in 2007.
Danny Strack is a performance poet and juggler, residing in Austin, TX. He currently runs the Austin Poetry Slam, a weekly show at the Spider House Ballroom on Tuesday nights. He has been a regular performer at the Austin Poetry Slam, as well as other Central Texas venues including The Hideout Theatre, Kickbutt Coffee, Expressions, Ruta Maya and Neo Soul since 2003. He is a four-time member of the Austin Poetry Slam Team: 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and a multiple time coach. In 2008, the team advanced to Finals and placed 3rd overall at the National Poetry Slam in Madison, WI. He was next on the Austin Neo Soul Nationals team, which placed first in the Group Poem Finals at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, NC.
Charles "Chuck" Taylor Jr. is an American author of books of poetry, essay, short story, and novels who was born in Minneapolis but has lived most of his life in Texas. He teaches creative writing at Texas A&M and operates small press Slough Press, publishing since 1973. His contribution to building the literature scene on the Third Coast in Austin, Texas, includes activities as both a writer and publisher. He published leading poets, fiction and non-fiction writers whose books received numerous awards and were later published by larger presses. His titles, such as the poetry collection What do You Want, Blood? received the 1988 Austin Book Award and regional critical acclaim. He is one of the legendary figures of the Austin–San Antonio–Dallas triangle culture that nurtured the eccentric, free-spirited independence of Texan bohemia and cross-cultural innovative creativity, especially in the literary arts. Taylor's novel, Drifter's Story, and his poetry book, Ordinary Life, explore the lives of the working poor. He has taught in the NEA Poets-in-the-Schools Program and was CETA Poet-in-Residence for the City of Salt Lake.
Sarah Kay is an American poet. Known for her spoken word poetry, Kay is the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E., a group dedicated to using spoken word as an educational and inspirational tool.
The Women of the World Poetry Slam (WoWPS) is an annual poetry slam put on by Poetry Slam, Inc. The tournament pits individual slam poets from around the world that "live their lives as women" against one another.
Rosemary Catacalos was the 2013–2014 Texas Poet Laureate. A writer of Mexican and Greek ancestry, Catacalos was the first Latina named to the State post. She resides in San Antonio.
The College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) is an annual Poetry Slam tournament put on by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) in which teams of four or five college students from different colleges and universities compete against each other. Its location changes every year.
Carmen Tafolla is an internationally acclaimed Chicana writer from San Antonio, Texas, and a Professor Emerita of Bicultural Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Tafolla served as the poet laureate of San Antonio from 2012 to 2014, and was named the Poet Laureate of Texas for 2015–16. Tafolla has written more than thirty books, and won multiple literary awards. She is one of the most highly anthologized Chicana authors in the United States, with her work appearing in more than 300 anthologies.
Rudy K. Francisco is an American spoken word poet and author. He has won several Poetry Slams and written six books of poetry: Getting Stitches, Scratch, No Gravity, No Gravity Part II, Helium, and I'll Fly Away. He made an appearance on TV One's Verses and Flow and performed his spoken-word poem "Complainers" as well as "Rifle" on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
