Van Slam Finals Are TOMORROW!!

Vancouver Poetry Slam FINALS are tomorrow night!!

Come find out who’ll be crowned the 2025 Van Slam champion

and represent Vancouver in the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam.

MONDAY, APR 7 @ Shamshiri Caveman (139 Keefer St) and Online
Doors: 7:00 PM  |  Show: 8:00 PM
$8 Advance  |  $10-$15 sliding scale at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds)
BUY TICKETS
Or register to attend ONLINE here

After two intense qualifying slams in March, the top 8 poets compete in a 3-round poetry slam to settle it all. The finalists are:

Aleda Kasey
Brittney Smaila
Celine
Ian Khoo
Ivanna Samuel
Jay
Jules
Marlo Browne

All competing poets will perform 3-minute and 1-minute poems. After the second round, the top four highest-scoring poets will move on to a third, winner-take-all round of 3-minute poems. But that’s not all: along the way, we’ll enjoy a set of poetry from two-time Van Slam champion Neko Smart!

This event will have NO open mic.

ABOUT OUR FEATURE:

Neko Smart is a recent graduate of UBC’s BFA Creative Writing program. As 2020 Victoria City Youth Poet Laureate, they emphasised the importance of cultivating open dialogue about mental health in order to reduce stigma and increase safety, particularly for youth. They carry this value with them in all their artistic and leadership endeavours: as a member of the organising committee for the 2020/2021 Victorious Voices youth arts festival, as a member of the Wordplay poetry workshop facilitation roster, and as former slam coordinator for the UBC Slam Poetry Club. They were a finalist in the 2023 and 2024 Canadian Individual Poetry Slams as the Vancouver rep.