SlammED! 2013

Discover the art of creating performance poetry & spoken word in a hands-on, words-on workshop specially designed for secondary and upper primary school students.

Mon 29 July: Grade 6 and 7
Tue 30 July:  Grade 8 and 9
Wed 31 July: Grade 8 and 9

SlammED! culminates in an electric live poetry slam where participants can choose to take their new-found skills to the stage. Six participants in SlammED! will also get the chance refine their poetry and slamming skills in a mentorship workshop with Ghostboy & Pascalle. Two of these poets will have the opportunity to showcase SlammED! through a special guest appearance at the Brisbane Poetry Slam Heat on August 9.

Poetry slams have proven to be a successful educational tool and creative process for children and young people, encouraging free expression in both writing and performance, helping students to develop confidence and their own voice and promoting literacy and poetry in an immediate and accessible form.

David ‘Ghostboy’ Stavanger and Pascalle Burton lead the day’s activities of ‘page to stage’ performance fun.
Each workshop will include:

• Writing and editing poetry for stage
• The history & sound of slam - rhythm and rhyme
• Waking up and keeping the audience alive
• Developing performance techniques.  

David ‘Ghostboy’ Stavanger is a former psychologist and Performance Poetry World Cup holder who has toured both nationally and internationally as one of Australia ‘s premier performance poets and spoken word presenters. He has also been acknowledged as Queensland’s “slammaster”, having founded the state’s vibrant poetry slam scene in conjunction with the State Library of QLD.

Pascalle Burton is a teacher of English and Performing Arts.  She is also a published poet, key member of acclaimed Brisbane band The Stress of Leisure and a multiple poetry slam champion. Pascalle is also well known for her collaborative experimental poetry projects involving found poetry, performance art, and sonic elements.
This year SlammED! gets amplified through the introduction of “160 characters or less”, our inaugural text poem competition. In the lead up to the SlammED workshops and Poetry Slam heats, students can enter by texting or emailing a poem to the State Library - with the chance to be exhibited at the Brisbane heats of Australian Poetry Slam. Stay tuned for more info!