Slam Your Poetry: Write a Revolution

by Miles Merrill, Narcisa Nozica

Overview

No props. No music. No costumes. Just you, your words and a mic-you've got two minutes to make the crowd scream your name.Miles Merrill, spoken word artist and founder of Australian Poetry Slam, and award-winning teacher Narcisa Nozica will take you from novice to spoken word superstar in no time. Twenty years after Merrill introduced poetry slams to Australia, there's a national competition with a live audience of 20 000 people, and it's taught in schools across the country. It's been nothing short of a revolution!With tips from stars of the Australian poetry slam scene, including bestselling author Maxine Beneba Clarke, Slam Your Poetry provides step-by-step instructions and exercises that will inspire you to:1. Write a poem that pops2. Rehearse like a winner 3. Wow your audience 4. Beat stage fright 5. Run a winning competition for your school or community groupPart how-to guide, part masterclass, part manifesto, this book will help teachers, students and wannabe spoken word artists of all ages slam like a pro.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781742244778
Publisher:	UNSW Press
Publication date:	05/01/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	519 KB

About the Author

Miles Merrill is a performing writer who regularly appears at festivals and events worldwide. He is the founder of Australian Poetry Slam, an international performing writers' program, which sees up to 1000 writers performing in over 80 events across Asia-Pacific every year. Miles has hosted an ABC TV special on poetry slams, performed solo at the Sydney Opera House and published award-winning poetry in print, audio and video. As creative director of the literary arts organisation, Word Travels, he focuses on empowering people from diverse and marginalised communities to share their stories and poems with the world. Narcisa Nozica is a high school English teacher in southern Sydney. In 2016, she won a NSW Premier's English Teachers Association Scholarship to study how spoken-word poetry can be used in schools. She has presented at conferences and worked with teachers and students to help young people find their poetic voice. Miles Merrill is a performing writer who regularly appears at festivals and events worldwide. He is the founder of Australian Poetry Slam, an international performing writers' program, which sees up to 1000 writers performing in over 80 events across Asia-Pacific every year. Miles has hosted an ABC TV special on poetry slams, performed solo at the Sydney Opera House and published award-winning poetry in print, audio and video. As creative director of the literary arts organisation, Word Travels, he focuses on empowering people from diverse and marginalised communities to share their stories and poems with the world. Narcisa Nozica is a high school English teacher in southern Sydney. In 2016, she won a NSW Premier's English Teachers Association Scholarship to study how spoken-word poetry can be used in schools. She has presented at conferences and worked with teachers and students to help young people find their poetic voice. Miles Merrill is a performing writer who regularly appears at festivals and events worldwide. He is the founder of Australian Poetry Slam, an international performing writers' program, which sees up to 1000 writers performing in over 80 events across Asia-Pacific every year. Miles has hosted an ABC TV special on poetry slams, performed solo at the Sydney Opera House and published award-winning poetry in print, audio and video. As creative director of the literary arts organisation, Word Travels, he focuses on empowering people from diverse and marginalised communities to share their stories and poems with the world. Narcisa Nozica is a high school English teacher in southern Sydney. In 2016, she won a NSW Premier's English Teachers Association Scholarship to study how spoken-word poetry can be used in schools. She has presented at conferences and worked with teachers and students to help young people find their poetic voice.

Table of Contents

The teaser … 1

This ain’t Poetry Classics 101 1

What’s in this book 6

Who we are 10

PART 1 WRITE TO SPEAK

1 The play book 15

Why do it? 16

Take control of the story 18

2 Write it 22

Ten ideas to make your writing jump 23

Recap 72

3 Perform it 74

Bring words to life 74

The second-scariest thing 80

Ten tricks to make your performance fly 87

Ensemble performances and teams 117

Keep your instrument tuned 120

4 Get gigs 122

Types of events and artists 124

Going bigger 133

Where are you at? 137

Who’s hiring? 141

PART 2 SET UP A SLAM

5 Plan your own event 145

Location 146

Performers 146

Timing 148

Marketing and publicity 148

Equipment 152

6 On the day 155

What you’ll need 155

At the gig 158

After the gig 160

PART 3 TEACH A REVOLUTION

7 Why spoken word? 165

Changing minds, lives and communities 168

Spoken word in schools 179

Spoken word in the community 185

8 Engage your writers 187

Create a spoken word community 187

Sculpt your workshops 196

Partner with poets 201

Choose poems that stoke the fire 207

Build a sense of community 215

9 Awaken the artist within 226

Get them reading poetry 226

Get them writing in workshops 236

Fuel the writing process with feedback 262

Draft it, then craft it 267

Take it from page to stage 272

Put on a show 275

Sources and references 284

Poems and extracts 284

Interviews 285

References: books, articles 287

Further reading 290

Appendix 1: Poems and resources online 291

Spoken word poems and readings 291

Spoken word video collections 294

Text poems 294

Organisations, events and resources 296

Appendix 2: Slam Your Poetry: sample guidelines 299

Appendix 3: Slam Your Poetry: sample running order 307

Appendix 4: Slam Your Poetry: sign-up sheet and

hat slips 309

Appendix 5: Slam Your Poetry: scoring sheet 311

Acknowledgments 312

Index 314