MC Ken Arkind
Coach Carrie Rudzinski
Judges Dominic “Tourettes” Hoey, Lynda Chanwai Earle and Ria Masae.
DJ Sandy Mill

Going West wouldn’t be going anywhere without our famous Poetry Slam, where courageous poets lay it all on the line to see who’s got the chops to rise to the top and take away the big cash prizes. Yes, it’s competitive. And yes, things can run hot, as poetry should. There are no scripts, no notes and no props, just the raw material of life, rendered into words and sounds and delivered in pitch perfect form. And while Slams can be boisterous affairs, don’t think for a moment that we skimp on the literary stuff. Our team – and typically, most of our entrants – are widely published in the loftiest tomes in the land. We’re thrilled to see the return of Ken Arkind as MC and Carrie Rudzinski as our high-performance poetry coach, and we welcome to the judges’ panel previous GW Slam guru and novelist Dominic “Tourettes” Hoey, current IIML writer-in-residence and founding Voices producer at RNZ Lynda Chanwai-Earle, and 2018’s GW Slam winner, the finest of Te Whau, Ria Masae. The finalists will be selected from a series of heats, including one winner from our all-ages event, Word Up. And with this year’s grand slam final going live in Avondale’s famous Hollywood Cinema, we’re going to look and sound better than ever. Snap! Snap!

1st Prize $500 • 2nd Prize $400 • 3rd Prize $300 • Runners up $50

HEAT 1 | Monday 26 August | 6pm | Brown Street Studio Bar | 50 Rosebank Road Avondale

HEAT 2 | Tuesday 3 September | 7.30pm | Poetry Live | Thirsty Dog K’Road

HEAT 3 | Deadline: Saturday 7th September | 11.59pm | Online submission! Make a video selfie of your stuff: no cuts, no edits, no FX. Just you, your spoken words and your phone. Max length: 3 minutes, no exceptions. Upload it to YouTube (select “unlisted” if you’d rather keep it private) and email it to slam@goingwestfest.co.nz with subject line: Slam Heat 3.

GRAND SLAM | Friday 13 September | 7pm | The Hollywood