Top performance poet competition
Our academics have teamed up with Derby City Council to search for the top performance poets of the future.
Lecturers working within the Initial Teacher Education and Creative Writing departments at the University have co-organised the event Wham!, Bam!, Derby Slam, to take place in the Derby Students’ Union’s Academy Bar.
The aim of the initiative was to get people interested in performance poetry and has been organised in partnership with Literature Development at Derby City Council. Performance poets Sara-Jane Arbury and Marcus Moore controlled the event.
One of the organisers was Jo Baines, an Initial Teacher Education lecturer at the University, who has had support from University Creative Writing colleague Joe Coghlan. Jo Baines said: “This is a poetry slam – a cut and thrust contest where performance poets parade their verses in a bid to reach the hearts and hearing parts of the public. Random judges award points for style, content and warmth of the audience’s applause. This event will help our students to develop as readers and writers.”
