This week in Ottawa is The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (CFSW 2010) which runs until October 16.
In its seventh year, The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is Canada’s pre-eminent literary festival focused on spoken word and slam poetry, and brings together over 100 of the best spoken word poets from 15 communities all across the country.
Now if you are unfamiliar with spoken word poetry, it is poetry that has been penned with performance in mind. Often associated with hip-hop culture, spoken word poets are at once storytellers, comics, pundits and musicians too. Slam is the competitive form of this high-energy art, as individual performers are judged and scored before a champion is chosen.
Now, maybe you are like me, and you’ve never seen slam poetry. Well this week, I’m going to try, and here’s why:
1. It’s new to me, and I’m intrigued. I’m also thinking it will be both impressive and inspiring.
2. Ottawa is home to the defending Slam Champions, Capital Slam and Urban Legends. Shouldn’t we support the home team(s)?!
3. Daytime performances are completely free, evening shows are entirely affordable, and these are being followed by swanky after parties!
4. According to those ‘in the know’, CFSW 2010 will feature some of the biggest names in spoken word, which means I’ll be seeing the best slam anywhere.
5. Apparently, some of the poets “know it”! Local arts insider and CFSW publicist Jessica Ruano tells me these poets are multitalented. Not only are they spoken word masters, many are also quite fashionable, and may even put the rest of us to sartorial shame. This – and of course the poetry – I must see…
The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word takes place in numerous venues in downtown Ottawa from October 12 to 16, 2010. For more information, visit www.cfsw.ca.
