Spoken Word
Melbourne is one of the most active live poetry and spoken word communities in Australia. From La Mama Poetica to Passionate Tongues to slamalamadingdong to Thin Red Lines and Sick Leave to special slam competitions, there is always a lot going on. Not forgetting bigger events such as the Melbourne Fringe Festival, all of which contain programmed spoken word performances. The Footscray Community Arts Centre also often put on spoken word events.
Key resources for regular poetry event listings can be found at Melbourne Poetry. Other key links for poetry event information for the city are: Australian Poetry Slam, West Word Poetry, Girls On Key and Words Out Loud.
Performance can be enjoyed at home or on the move: Melbourne is home to spoken word journal Going Down Swinging, publishing digital as well as print and audio anthologies since 1979 (as well as producing sensational, sold-out live events). 3CR’s weekly radio program Spoken Word is dedicated to performance and poetry. For video lovers, there’s the Melbourne Spoken Word YouTube channel.There are also great archives of video on Red Lobster, an old Channel 31 program, and RealPoetryMovies, run by Ken Smeaton.
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