Bankstown Poetry Slam is proud to present the 2024 Grand Slam featuring Plestia Alaqad.

28 finalists, 7 teams, 2 electrifying rounds of poetry and an international feature artist. The Grand Slam is unmissable.

The Grand Slam is a showcase of Bankstown Poetry Slam's most captivating wordsmiths from the 2023 season. These incredible poets have been placed into random teams of four and are working together to weave new spoken word poetry pieces to impress not only the judges but also the audience, as there will be a People's Choice Award! The teams will go head to head in two back to back rounds, bringing poetic passion and lyrical ingenuity to centre stage. After the competition rounds, Plestia will be presenting a special reading of her poetry.

Tickets strictly limited! Book now to avoid disappointment. Book Now via this link!

General Admission: $35 + booking fee

Concession: $20+ booking fee

About our incredible feature, Plestia:
Plestia Alaqad is a 22 year old Palestinian journalist born and raised in Gaza City where she witnessed more than four aggressions. She studied New Media and Journalism at Eastern Mediterranean University. Plestia is known for covering the Israeli war on Gaza focusing in depth on Palestinian humans and how they’re feeling. Plestia’s work has been shared by AlJazeera, New York Times, BBC, and The Washington Post. Plestia is also a public-speaker who advocates for Palestine. She aspires to be a well established Palestinian author.

This event is proudly supported by the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue and the City of Sydney.

Bankstown Poetry Slam is a not for profit charitable organisation founded in 2013 that empowers people to express themselves through spoken word poetry. Bankstown Poetry Slam has gained national recognition as the largest regular poetry slam in Australia, and is the 2023 recipient of the Special Award at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.

Australia’s largest regular poetry slam is turning 10! Bankstown Poetry Slam found a home in Bankstown in 2013 and has since nurtured thousands of voices across Western Sydney and Australia through its award-winning events and programs.

Join us for an evening of spectacular spoken word poetry to celebrate the collective’s 10th anniversary in grand-slam fashion at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the location of Bankstown Poetry Slam’s first ever grand slam. Get ready for some ground-shaking clicking and stomping as Bankstown Poetry Slam’s highest-scoring poets of the events held in 2022 go head-to-head in teams for two rounds of thrilling poetry and verse.

Don’t miss this one-time-only event, featuring plenty of surprise guests and Bankstown Poetry Slam legends. Presented in collaboration with the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales. Free entry but get in early for the best seats in the house.

Visit bravenewword.au for more info on how to enter the national competition or purchase tickets for the finale!

As we all hunker down during this time of social distancing, BPS is still committed to great art and community. Join us on the last Tuesday of March 31 at live 6:30pm for a virtual poetry slam experience as we host a Facebook Watch Party in place of our regular slam, where virtual clicks are welcome with open arms. Find out more by clicking HERE.

When is a poem finished? How do we know what to take out and what to keep? Find out at a poetry workshop with the inimitable Anthony Anaxagorou. PURCHASE HERE.

An award-winning poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator, Anthony Anaxagorou began crafting his distinctive verses at the age of 14 and his work has since been translated into multiple languages and studied in universities, schools and colleges across Europe and the USA.

The first young poet to win the London Mayor’s Poetry Slam in 2002, Anthony’s fearless, outspoken style has earned him the 2016 BBC Young Writer Award and taken him on tour around the world.
In this intensive poetry workshop, Anthony will share his creative processes and help you expand your expressive capabilities and explore new approaches to the written word.

The workshop is open to people of all ages and abilities. Book now as spots are strictly limited!

The biggest, fiercest spoken word poetry slam in the Southern Hemisphere is hosting its 5th annual Grand Slam in conjunction with Sydney Festival!

The Grand Slam pits poets in a battle of words, flow and themes. Forming groups of four randomly drawn by BPS, the top scoring poets from each monthly Bankstown slam will be creating new work in their teams and slamming their hearts out for one night only.

Bankstown Poetry Slam is Australia’s largest and most loved spoken word poetry event and its fifth annual Grand Slam brings together Western Sydney’s finest writer-performers to speak their truth on love, identity, family, politics and everything in between.

Hosted by lawyer-poet Sara Mansour and featuring Anthony Anaxagorou, this is wordplay at its most dazzling – a spectacular display of verbal dexterity, agile thinking and observational brilliance. Warm your fingers up for some hectic clicking.

Tickets are essential and will sell out - https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/grand-slam

$5 at the door

Youth Open Mic/Workshop, FREE

$5 at the door

Youth Open Mic/Workshop, FREE

Bankstown Poetry Slam presents an all-female line-up of Western Sydney’s most dynamic storytellers. Join them at the Curiosity Stage for an hour of fierce poetry, and click your fingers along to stories of resilience, strength and hope with these sensational performers.

For more information on the event, please visit https://www.swf.org.au/festivals/festival-2019/bankstown-poetry-slam-women-of-the-word/

Hosted by Sara Mansour and featuring:

Aishah Ali
Aida Zjakic
Melanie Senter
Layla Mkhayber
May Tran
Daiane Moret
Freedom Writers (Grand Slam 2017 winners)
Hawraa Kash
Alice Tame
Nieshanka Nanthakrishnakumar
Sim Kaur
Sharnay Mkhayber
Amani Mahmoud
Zena Maghchouch

We are so excited to be hosting this month's slam in collaboration with Sydney Writers Festival AND to be welcoming to our stage wāni Le Frere. Please remember to bring your $5 entry free, or alternatively you can book your ticket NOW via Eventbrite. Youngins under 14 are free. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, please contact us!

For the awesome slammers who wish to sign up, please read the rules:
🍉 Please arrive promptly at 6:30pm to sign up, the order for the night will be randomly chosen
🍉 3 minutes to perform your piece
🍉 No props or music
🍉 Poetry must be your original work
🍉 5 Randomly selected members of the crowd will judge the performances
🍉 No age restrictions
🍉 Semi-awesome prizes!

Poetry aficionado's, appreciators of Hip-Hop and literature that beats with a thunderous heart - you absolutely do not want to miss this!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask away or email info@bankstownpoetryslam.com

A safe space for under 26 year olds to showcase anything they want, but we welcome everyone of all ages to watch and support our performers.

We want our youth to "flip the script" and share their many talents; challenge stereotypes, address issues and action change. You can perform anything — poetry, music, stories, magic. We'll give you a stage, a mic and you can choose how to use it.

How is an open mic different to a poetry slam?
There are no strict time limits (but don't take 5eva on stage) and no judging involved. Flip The Script is a space for you to perform whatever you want to, without any rules.

FLIP THE SCRIPT IS EXPANDING! BPS is now providing a free writing feedback service for youth! Simply submit your piece to the email below, and our very own Deema will be who gives feedback.

DISCLAIMERS:
✒️ If you are under 12 years of age, please use your parent's or guardian's email.
✒️ Pieces will not be shared without your permission
✒️ Please allow for up to a week to receive feedback

If you have any questions, please email flipthescript@bankstownpoetryslam.com

Please note the special date for this month’s Flip The Script as part of 4Elements Hip Hop Festival

Back to school, back to work, back to our regular monthly slams! BPS is back this February for another month of slamming, finger-clicking, watermelon-flowing poetry fun!

We are excited to announce New Zealand's National Slam Champion for 2015, and the poet who represented New Zealand at the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2016, as our first feature of the year: Mohamed Hassan!

This year, we will start charging entry of $5 at the door. Please bring your pocket change and help us keep this slam slamming. Younglings under 14 are free to enter.

For the brave poets who wish to perform, please read the rules/notes below:
🍉 Please arrive promptly at 6:30pm to sign up, the order for the night will be randomly chosen
🍉 3 minutes to perform your piece
🍉 No props or music
🍉 Poetry must be your original work
🍉 5 Randomly selected members of the crowd will judge the performances
🍉 No age restrictions
🍉 Semi-awesome prizes!

Don't forget, Flip the Script, Western Sydney's first and only regular youth open-mic, is on the day before so if you want to try out new material, come through!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask away or email info@bankstownpoetryslam.com

A safe space for under 26 year olds to showcase anything they want.

We want our youth to "flip the script" and share their many talents; challenge stereotypes, address issues and action change.

There is no limit to what you can perform: poetry, music, stories, magic. We'll give you a stage, a mic and you can choose how to use it.

How is an open mic different to a poetry slam?
With open mics, there are no strict time limits (but don't take 5eva on stage) and no judging involved. Flip The Script is a space for you to perform whatever you want to, without any rules.

What is the age limit?
Performers must be under the age of 26 to sign up, but we welcome everyone of all ages to watch and support our performers.

If you have any questions, please email info@bankstownpoetryslam.com