Whether reading their own humorous poems, discussing their funny inspirations or presenting the work of those who’ve made jokes in verse before them, these poets will make you reconsider the serious poet stereotype.
A spoken word / music mash-up featuring Rage Against the Machine's first album performed by a live band with poems inspired by the songs read between each track.
This slam showcase explores the theme of heroes, featuring El Jones, John Akpata, Adelene da Soul Poet, and Scruffmouth Scribe. Curated by Black Dot Roots & Culture Collective.
An acclaimed multimedia show featuring the powerful storytelling of Ivan Coyote and the ethereal voice of Rae Spoon. Official launch of the "Gender Failure" book published by Arsenal Pulp Press.
Two-time Canadian Individual Poetry Slam champion, OpenSecret reveals some of the more nuanced and creative approaches to slam and how to turn the odds in your favour.
This facilitator-guided conversation engages artists in anti-oppression dialogue Uncomfortable questions will be asked. Solutions will be crowd sourced. Come, be challenged, and share your experiences.
LITANY showcases emerging and established queer writers. Each evening is a cozy, safer-space affair that celebrates the complexity of our queer worlds and words.
Editor of "The Spoken Word Workbook," Sheri-D Wilson leads participants in a journey to raise your voice.
A whirlwind of words strikes as Sheri-D Wilson, James Lamb, Ikenna 'OpenSecret' Onyegbula, and Billeh Nickerson blur the line between stage and page.
Evelyn Lau and Sean Cranbury join us to discuss the role of publishing in the 21st century and how writers can make it work to their advantage.
The Spoken Word Jamboree kicks off the festival with feature poet Sara Brickman. All teams will be invited to perform a one-minute intro poem to tell us more about themselves and their school. The Jamboree provides all participating poets a chance to meet each other outside of a competition setting.
The All-Star SLAM pits three former poetry slam champions head to head to head in an all-out battle of poetic verve and wit. It presents the poignancy, hilarity, and immediacy of slam poetry competitions at the highest level.
This night will kick off the competitive section of Hullabaloo. This is a free all-ages event. It may contain strong language, controversial issues, and words that make you re-evaluate your life.
No stage and no microphone. 16 poets will compete in a head-to-head format to determine the best slam poet at Hullbaloo with the winner of each match determined by audience applause.
Adventures in Poetryland is a series of workshops on the different aspects of spoken word poetry. You sign-up for the whole three-hour session, during which you'll circulate through a series of games, lessons, and exercises that will help you expand your poetic range.
By the second day of prelims, the tournament will be in full swing. Some teams will be flying high, others will be working hard to improve their ranking.
The 4th annual Hullabaloo Finals Night will determine which school has the best poetic chops in all of British Columbia. OpenSecret will start the evening with a feature set of his award-winning spoken word poetry.
A new youth slam season is well underway as this is our 3rd slam for poets to collect points towards making the playoffs in March 2015. The youth slam is open to all poets between the ages of 13-20 years of age. All poetic styles are welcome in the competition. … Continued
Vancouver Poetry House presents… The fun continues Monday nights at Van Slam with April Ranger ushering us into Fall. Her warm words are sure to get your blood flowing and send you home with dreams of comfy over-sized sweaters. What better way to kick off the leaves hitting the ground than … Continued
Vancouver Poetry House presents… The fun continues Monday nights at Van Slam with weekly feature poet, Sean O’Gorman telling it like it is but softening the blow with those beautifully arranged words and sentences we call poetry. A self professed“heartbreak poet” his performance may leave you slightly shaken and stirred (but in all the good … Continued
Vancouver Poetry House presents: Van Slam with weekly feature poet, Barb Day, whose quirky, humorous approach to spoken word will have you chuckling all the way to Café Deux counter and back again. You won’t need dessert because with her wondrous rhyming words Barb Day makes everything seem a little … Continued
Celebrating opera, spoken word and everything in between, Words Aloud: Opera Meets Spoken Word is a stripped down performance of both art forms, and will feature emerging spoken word artists, singers and musicians. This show features spoken word artists and opera singers together in a completely unique and informal café … Continued
Working in the emergent tradition of Afro-futurism, Komi Olaf’s surrealistic art and spoken word poetry bridges cultural divides and speaks of the immigrant’s perspective, bringing together disjunctive images with perfect unity in a playfully profound vision of a futuristic Diaspora.
If you’ve ever questioned the meaning of life in all it’s complexity and simplicity and how something could be both at the same time – come on down, you’ll be in good company. Using the definition of literary as both king and court jester, Floyd dazzles and delights turning even the unsightly parts of existence into something we can laugh about.
Philosofly is a spoken word artist with a wonderfully weird hip-hop approach to poetry. A member of the 2013 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word Championship team (Toronto Poetry Slam), and winner of 2014 Last Poet Standing, Philosofly has made quite an impact in his short time in the scene. The rapper slash poet is known for his catchy rhythmic delivery and random ass metaphors that somehow end up making sense by the end of the poem.
Vancouver Poetry House presents: Van Slam with weekly feature poet, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz who is blowing into this city like the warm breeze we’ve all been waiting for. Fall is in full force and Cristin’s down-to- earth delivery and tangible tales of family, love and life will wrap around you like … Continued
It might not seem like it but Sabrina was once afraid of her voice. It wasn’t until she found poetry that the roaring lion nestling in her throat began to speak. Most recently Sabrina was part of the 2014 Toronto Poetry Slam team which was crowned national champions this past October in Victoria, BC. Sabrina’s poems float along the spectrum of love, pain, identity and Beyonce. These days, she wears her voice on her sleeve and hopes to share it with as many people as humanly possible.
Wonder Dave is a writer and performer from Minneapolis, Minnesota now living in California. He has toured the country performing at poetry venues, schools, cabarets, science fiction conventions, burlesque shows, and bowling alleys. In 2007, Dave was the recipient of the Jerome Foundation’s Verve grant for spoken word artists. Dave has been a part of five National Slam teams, including a 2010 appearance on Group Piece Finals stage with the Minneapolis Slam Team, and a 2011 top-20, semi-finalist finish with the Berkeley California slam team.
2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac are preachers of The Anthropocalypse in the guise of barefoot beards with voices. In order to further the good word of bad things they have spent the four years restlessly wandering North America with their words while simultaneously creating the world’s first psychedelic talk opera. They share nightmares but live the dream. They were also six fifteenths of the 2013 Vic Slam Team.
This is an INVITATIONAL SLAM where competing poets are selected by organizers in advance – which means you’re guaranteed some funky poet performances. Conventional rules don’t apply, rumor has it 2 Dope Boyz allow musical accompaniment and offer water-bowling (yes, water-bowling).
Billeh Nickerson’s five books include The Asthmatic Glassblower, McPoems, Impact: the Titanic Poems and the 2014 City of Vancouver Book Award nominated Artificial Cherry. He is a founding member of the performance troupe “Haiku Night in Canada” and a silver medalist at the Canadian Gay Curling Championships. He is also Chair of the Creative Writing department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.