Toronto Poetry Slam

TPP did the draw last night to determine when the 16 Semifinalists would bout when. This year, we have 2 Semifinals nights.

So for the SUNDAY MARCH 10 Semifinals, your competitors are (in no particular order):
David Delisca
Patrick de Belen
Serafina
OptimusRhyme
IF
Anto Chan
Iyah
Sabrina

For the SATURDAY MARCH 30 Semifinals, competing poets are:
Kliggy
White Noise Machine
Emilee Nimetz
Millado
Philosofly
Ida Sophia
Britta B.
Valentino Assenza

FB Event invites coming soon, see ya on the 10th!

TPS fans, tonight (WED FEB 27) you'll be able to find out which semifinalists slam when - March 10 or March 30. Who'll battle who?!

Tonight we'll be livetweeting the draw to determine the semifinalists bout. Go to @TOpoetryslam (our Twitter handle) after 8pmET, we aren't certain on the exact minute it'll begin, but it should be around then.

We'll also announce the results of the semifinalists draw on this website on Thursday.

And that's a wrap on the regular season, folks! And what a night to remember, wow!

The slam began with a hot open mic, thanks to great poetics from Kevin Fortnum and Tony, and capped off with a slick hiphop tune courtesy of Jeff Kearns and guest-singer Dynasty.

Then the slam proper began with IF rockin the sac spot (he's already in Semis) and talented poets such as Barbara, Tanya, The P.O.E. and Valentino setting the tone.

We're back with our final regular season slam on SATURDAY FEB 23 @ the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W.

As always, doors at 7, signup 730, show 8pm.
$5 cover.
Open mic as well.

Featuring Winona Linn from Halifax! She is a spoken word artist, poet, and performer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founder and artistic director of Slam Kingston Poetry Series, Winona is perhaps most well-known for her work as the poet laureate for the federal Green Party of Canada, that included the creation and distribution of three viral poetry videos.

Our Sunday night slam was once again filled to the brim with talented poets and hungry audience members. The slam gave us a solid mix of styles and voices, from the straight-to-the-point Lip Balm to the inspirational IF to the lyrical Serafina.

Some big pieces came out early, such as a Valentino Assenza love poem, and we were also treated to some sultry poetry from Iyah.

This is the second-last slam of the season, and it's a Sunday night and we're featuring a fantastic poet from Ottawa!

@ the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St W

As always, anyone can sign up to slam and can open mic.

What talented Toronto poet will represent Toronto Poetry Slam at the annual Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championships in Vancouver (now called Verses: Festival of Words)? This is the qualifying slam to see who will make that trip to BC!

Note the tournament is April 8 to 13, 2013.

ON TUES. FEB 5 @ Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave)

Poets, you need 4 poems ready, each 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute (with 10-second grace periods).

So this Slam will follow the same format as last year:

There will first be a 2-minute round, followed by a 1-minute round.

Toronto Poetry Project is overjoyed to announce a new grant program offering 2 GTA poets funds to help produce their merchandise.

MERCH MADNESS is a grant initiative designed to assist spoken word poets in the GTA who want to launch a product, whether it's a book, CD, DVD, T-shirt line and everything in between.

Who can apply?

Any spoken word poet who lives in the GTA, as defined by these borders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greater_toronto_area_map.svg
All ages.
It doesn't matter if you already have merch available.

This was a HOT Saturday night show, hotter than usual. Not only were we at capacity by 8pm, but poetry royalty was in the house - our feature, Toronto poet laureate George Elliott Clarke!

His presence attracted other poetry icons in our scene, from Andrea Thompson to Lara Bozabalian. We were also treated to a fantastic open mic, opened by St. Catherine Slam's Thomas Hoad.

The slam had a heady mix of vets and young pros, such as Stephen Robins (formerly of BAM! Slam Team) and Millado (current coach of BAM! Youth Slam Team).