Cascadia Regional Poetry Slam 2016

Competitions have been part of two different Cascadia Poetry Festivals. (2014 and 2015). This year we did not find volunteers willing to facilitate a slam, but we were blessed with interest from the Slam community to stage a Cascadia Regional Poetry Slam as a co-sponsored event. Ben Hunter’s yet-to-be-opened venue in Hillman City, Black & Tan, turned out to be a perfect place to hold such an event and it is happening in less than a month! From the organizers Ian Martinez:

The 2016 Cascadia Regional Poetry Slam brings together eight teams from the Northwest to compete in a two-day tournament of the region’s finest poets.  Each team, representing a slam venue in a different part of Cascadia, is aiming for a spot in next year’s National Poetry Slam in Denver, CO, which they can guarantee with a win.  Spoken word poetry exists to promote audience participation, give voice to the marginalized, and build community; over 30 of the country’s fiercest poets will compete for the pride of representing their community and speak their truth on the national stage.  Which city will capture the glory?

Friday: Prelims! Two slams of 4 teams each compete for a chance at finals. Top 2 teams from each move on.

Saturday: Finals! Top 4 teams compete to become Cascadia Poetry Slam champions!

Competing teams include Seattle Poetry Slam, Rain City Poetry Slam, Olympia People’s Mic, Vancouver Poetry Slam,Portland Poetry Slam, Spokane Poetry Slam, Boise Poetry Slam, and Slamlandia.

We’re delighted to welcome this event into the Rainier Valley. Black & Tan is at 5608 Rainier Av S.  7p-12M, November 4 & 5, 2016.
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About Splabman

Poet & interviewer Paul E Nelson founded SPLAB (Seattle Poetics LAB) & the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Since 1993, SPLAB has produced hundreds of poetry events & 600 hours of interview programming with legendary poets & whole systems activists including Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, Robin Blaser, Diane di Prima, Daphne Marlatt, Nate Mackey, George Bowering, Barry McKinnon, José Kozer, Brenda Hillman & many others. Paul’s books include American Prophets (interviews 1994-2012) (2018) American Sentences (2015) A Time Before Slaughter (2009) and Organic in Cascadia: A Sequence of Energies (2013). Co-Editor of Make It True: Poetry From Cascadia (2015), 56 Days of August: Poetry Postcards (2017) and Samthology: A Tribute to Sam Hamill (2019) Make it True meets Medusario (2019), he’s presented poetry/poetics in London, Brussels, Nanaimo, Qinghai & Beijing, China, has had work translated into Spanish, Chinese & Portuguese & writes an American Sentence every day. Awarded a residency at The Lake, from the Morris Graves Foundation in Loleta, CA, he’s published work in Golden Handcuffs Review, Zen Monster, Hambone, and elsewhere. Winner of the 2014 Robin Blaser Award from The Capilano Review, he is engaged in a 20 year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia and lives in Rainier Beach, in the Cascadia bioregion’s Cedar River watershed.
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