Mart Basa just sent us this wonderful little article on the amazing Slam poetry scene in Canberra:
Scratch the capital’s 100-year surface and discover it’s all in the poetry. Canberra’s poetry slam scene is spilling and thriving its heart out.
Poetry slam, for the uninitiated, is a competitive blend of hip hop, theatre and performance poetry [...]

[ 31 May, 2013; 7:30 pm; ]

Those crazy kids over at the Canberra poetry slam are running two slams there this month, this is the second.

They sent us these words about the event, because they like words.

May Poetry Slam Part 2

This month sees the social calendar bookended by two editions of the Canberra Poetry Slam.

Part 2 starts Friday the 31st at [...]

[ 1 May, 2013; 7:30 pm; ] This just in:

Three well-known Canberra poets, Geoff Page, Charlotte Clutterbuck and P.S. Cottier will be reading at Manning Clark House next week, on Wednesday 1st May. The reading starts at 7.30pm, but get there early for a glass of wine and a snack included in your $10 entry fee.

Warning: one of the [...]

Andrew Galan is a poet. He runs writing workshops in Canberra’s food courts, co-founded Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!, harasses people in the civic interchange as a part of the Tragic Troubadours, and has his hands in just about everything poetry related that goes on in Canberra.
He also has a blog, if you like those kind of things.
At any [...]

Canberra based Poet Chris Jones is releasing a book of poetry on the 15th of April.
The press release paints some interesting pictures.
A collection of poetry from Canberra writer Chris Jones
Where There’s Light, There’s Shadow could be compared to a carnival freak show, and is bound to attract people with a taste for the bizarre and [...]

I know quite a few poets. They are a poor and miserable people. This might make them feel better.
Get to it poets, fight for your meals and our amusement!
Canberra’s aspiring poets are encouraged to nominate for the 2013 ACT Poetry Prize, with $5000 in prizes up for grabs.
ACT Arts Minister Joy Burch said the awards [...]

[ 21 March, 2013; 7:30 pm; ]

This just in from the inimitable Josh Inman:

Dear robots of poetry,

Kicking off at 7:30 at the Front Gallery in Lyneham on the 21st, the March edition of the Canberra Poetry Slam starts with an open mike.

The slam is open to all*, with a 1 poem 3 minute limit; the poem has to be of your [...]

ArtsACT has announced a new prize for Canberran poets.
The new ACT Poetry Prize is open from 1 March to 2 April 2013.
The Prize is valued at $5,000. The winning entry attracts a prize of $3,000 and two short-listed poems will attract a prize of $1,000 each.
For more information about the Prize and for [...]

Apparently books have trailers now.
Omar Musa, made famous by his mural at Knightsbridge, also on occasion writes poetry*. He has collected this poetry into a book, and announced it with a rather pretty trailer.
Hey everyone!
Thanks for checking the video out. If you are keen to grab a copy of “Parang” send $25 to my [...]

[ 16 January, 2013; 7:30 pm; ]

Facebook has a warning for all your souls:

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! is inside the Phoenix Pub for 2013, which means you get two microphones, a stage, plenty of sound, prizes and more prizes, audience, clapping, prizes, judges, cheering, heckling, and the chance of glory! With MCs too, and scoring along with adding, prizes, conflicting, and poetry, especially poetry, [...]

ArtsACT are calling for submissions of poetry to be displayed in ACTION buses in 2013:
Entrants can submit ONE poem with a maximum of 8 lines. Ten poems will be selected by an independent panel to be displayed on ACTION buses. Each winner selected will receive $500, and there will be 10 shortlisted poets who [...]

[ 30 November, 2012; 7:30 pm; ]

This just in:

Not going to Corinbank until Saturday?

well we want you! Come along to the last front Slam for 2012!

The theme is “Undecided between Blues or Valhalla.”

The night opens with the open mic at 7:30 followed by the slam at 8
Join the slam and compete for cash prizes!

The features will be Steve Smart & Kim [...]

[ 6 November, 2012; 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm. ] This just in:

The national poets’ organisation, Australian Poetry Ltd (AP), and the School of Music Poets present:

Meet your Neighbours: Poetry and readings by Indonesian and Australian writers

at Biginelli Expresso Café, level 5 of School of Music at 12.30-2.00pm on Tuesday 6 November. Entry is gold coin donation.

The event will feature Indonesian performer/writer/researcher, Khairani Barokka, and [...]

[ 28 September, 2012; 6 October, 2012; 17 October, 2012; ]

Word has gone out about the ACT heats of the Australian Poetry Slam competition which will culminate in much hoopla at the Sydney Theatre:

For the first time ever the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has three Australian Poetry Slam heats throughout September and October. Showcasing some of Canberra’s finest poets these heats will decide who will [...]

Blemish Books would like to invite all rioters to the launch of Triptych Poets Issue Three at Paperchain Books, Manuka, 6pm, Thursday 20th September.
Two local poets, JC Inman and PS Cottier (the latter all too well known to the threads of this august site) will read poems after the launch speech by fellow poet Dr [...]

[ 20 June, 2012; 7:30 pm; ]

Facebook has the good news:

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! is your poetry slam in June.

And that means bring your words, your crimes against poetry, your rants, your intent to coagulate on stage, your witticisms, your HERE I AM JUDGE ME BECAUSE I DON’T CARE FOR YOUR JUDGING, all for prizes, all for poetry, all for their poetry, ALL FOR [...]

[ 16 May, 2012; 7:30 pm; ]

Facebook brings word of returning mayhem:

THIS IS THE BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! MAY 2012 SPECIAL EDITION INVITATION

That means, prizes, yes, prizes, for poetry, special prizes for poetry

And The Batman

Because we want you onstage with your 2 minutes, your original material, and your no props

ALL SO YOU CAN WIN AT LEAST ONE OF OUR THREE, FOUR, MAYBE FIVE [...]

[ 30 March, 2012; 6:00 pm; ]

This in from Paperchain Manuka about the launch of local author Lawry Herron’s book of poetry:

‘In Timber Further Out – Poems’, is self-published by the writer, Lawry Herron, a former international lawyer and diplomat, later member of the Refugee Review Tribunal. He is now retired but works on a casual basis as a mediator. Lawry [...]

[ 29 March, 2012; 6:30 pm; ]

This has come in and is far too good not to share [Video only safe for work with headphones]

Steven Bailey and Tom O’Niel will be hosting a reading of works by the decrepit American poet Charles Bukowski at Smith’s Bookshop

Thursday 29 March, 6:30pm. Wine will be served – teetotallers need not attend.

[ 18 January, 2012; 7:30 pm; ]

2012′s looking up already as facebook informs us the mirth and mayhem of slam poetry at The Phoenix returns:

IT IS TWENTY TWELVE
And you have just killed a unicorn with your pick-up truck
that means it is BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! time.
“Why did you bring a cop to my command center? “
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! gives you a microphone, a stage, an [...]

Joy Burch has announced this year’s winners of the ACT Poetry Prize and Book of the Year Award.
Chris Hammer has been awarded the 2011 Book of the Year award for The River: A Journey Through The Murray-Darling Basin.
The Judith Wright Prize was awarded to Anne Shenfield for You can get only so close on google [...]

[ 28 October, 2011; 7:30 pm; ]

Facebook has the word on this year’s ACT heat of the Australian Poetry Slam:

It’s that time again… time to go head to head and mic to mic with Canberra’s best poetry slammers.

This year the ACT has just one heat – the top two poets each get a spot at the national final on Sunday 27 [...]

[ 10 October, 2011; ]

Poetry will be brought to life through film in Canberra when the best films of the Poetry in Film Festival take to the screens the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia on October 10.

Hot off the heels of the Awards Night in Melbourne, Canberra is the first stop in PIFF’s national tour showcasing this [...]

[ 30 September, 2011; 7:30 pm; ]

Facebook brings word of the Traverse Poetry Slam taking place this Friday:

Warm up for the ACT heats of the Australian Poetry Slam with… another poetry slam!

Sign up at 7.30pm – open mic at 8.00pm

3 minutes, no props or musical accompaniment…. fun for the whole family*!

Now with extra fantastical prizes found in my house!

—>May feature music [...]

Arts ACT have announced the 2011 “Poetry in ACTION” campaign which will put local poets on the bus for bored commuters to ponder.
For those who don’t catch the bus here’s what they look like. What do you think of the poems?

So the Last Prom was blisteringly intense – in two hours, the artists and audience packed in more energy, commitment and apocalyptic hormones than I experienced in the whole of puberty – and the Carpark Festival was an incredible blend of music, food, art and hanging out that turned the Melbourne Building alleyway into a [...]

[ 16 February, 2011; 7:30 pm; ]

One of my favourite nights of the month takes off next week at The Phoenix and has this to say about itself:

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! brings you a February instalment of BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! which means YOU GET a microphone, cider in a pint glass if you want it, a stage, an audience, five judges, prizes, whiskey in a smaller [...]

In a busy afternoon for Mr Stanhope he has gonged the literary types.
– Marion Halligan’s Valley of Grace is the 2010 ACT Book of the Year.
– Peter Boyle has won the Judith Wright prize from his published poetry collection Apocrypha.
– Jillian Pattinson, has won the Alec Bolton Prize for her unpublished manuscript ‘The Infinite Library’
– [...]

[First filed: Dec 1, 2010 @ 10:40]

Poetry is the new rock and roll, and every third Tuesday of the month the mayhem of Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! descends on The Phoenix.
After a hiatus (something about Leon having to be chained in a cold room that made him sad) the weather is now warm enough for Leon to produce [...]

Daylight wrap

it happens once a year
a time to change gear
daylight savings time
for city people it’s fine

but living on a farm
with a rooster for an alarm
the cows they hold back
’cause they’re still in the sack

the chooks they won’t lay
they’re still in the hay
the dogs in the manger
the cats still with a stranger

so please spare a thought
for [...]

For your listening pleasure we’re hosting audio highlights of the Phoenix’s monthly poetry/theatre mashup of a poetry slam known as Bad Slam! No Biscuit!
If you’re paying attention you might be getting confused. Last night was the June Bad Slam! But today we bring you the May edition. The June edition will turn up whenever Leon’s [...]

[First filed: Apr 21, 2010 @ 13:26]

On the third Tuesday of every month the Phoenix pub in Civic throbs and pulses to one of the more interesting events in the Canberra social calendar.
Back in the heyday of the Bootleg Sessions the Phoenix would pack out on a Monday night not so much for the music, [...]