I Poetry Slam Internacional de Palma

Es Baluard hosts the “I Poetry Slam Internacional de Palma” on October 11 at 8 pm. Poetry Slam Mallorca is a cultural project based on the staging and spectacle of the spoken word which has been held in Palma since 2010. Slam poetry is a movement involving tournaments among poets, not unlike jam sessions among musicians, the difference being that the poets who compete against one another on

stage are given marks by a jury selected from the audience. Poetry Slam Mallorca is one of a handful of ground-breaking, landmark national

Slam chapters. Although the first slam sessions were organised by Antonio Rigo and Jorge Espina at the Café Antiqüari, Poetry Slam Mallorca was founded in 2010 by Annalisa Marí and Irene la Sen. Since the summer of 2013, it has been represented by Marí, Tomeu Ripoll, and James Miele. Poetry Slam Mallorca is a component of the first national network of slam poetry, Poetry Slam España, which propels this cultural movement in Spain through national meetings and competitions, from which emerge the poets who represent us on a national level.

For the last three years, Poetry Slam Mallorca has organised numerous workshops at middle schools and high schools, besides co-organising the Live on Març Festival 2012 and 2013, which brings together some of the best performers of live poetry on stage at the national level.  An International Poetry Slam carried out like the usual slam in which the poets recite their poems and a jury composed of five members of the audience votes. The difference between a normal slam and an international slam is that the poems in foreign languages will have simultaneous translations projected on a screen. Taking part one poet in English; one poet in Catalan, two poets in Spanish, two poets in French; two poets in German. Among the eight participating poets are the current champion of the National Poetry Slam of Spain, Dante Alarido, and 2011 national champion, Marçal Font Espí, who also was the World Poetry Slam Runner-Up in 2012.

These are the slammers:

• Irene la Sen (in Spanish)
• Selma Montana (in German)
• Tobias Kunze (in German)
• Saiban (in French)
• Mirko (in French)
• James Miele (in English)
• Dante Alarido (in Spanish)
• Marçal Font Espí (in Catalan)