Poetry Slam was invented in Chicago in 1984 by Marc Kelly Smith who wanted to bring poetry back to the people. A poetry slam is a competitive art form, with specific rules, where poets perform against fellow poets in front of a live audience. Each solo poet has three minutes to bust out a poem of their own creation. Poets receive scores from five, randomly selected judges, in round-robin elimination periods, until a winner is determined. Heckling the Judges is encouraged.
Thursday, May 22
7:00 p.m.
Entrance by donation at the door
Shafraz Ladak is a multi-time Calgary Poetry Slam champion, the Communications Director for the Calgary Poetry Slam, a vigorous activist, and so much more.
His body of work in poetry has won him numerous awards, including the UpRoot YYC Person of Color poetry grant, and has been performed on stages across Canada.
He placed 11th in the 2017 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam and coached the 2017 Calgary slam team, who went on to finish in the semi-finals.
