Programs - Special Events - Australian Poetry Slam
Australian Poetry Slam Workshop with DEFNE
Who: Adults
When: Saturday 6 September | 2-4pm
Where: Penrith City Library
Tickets: $5 per person. Bookings are essential.
Australia needs all of its stories to inspire the world, not just those told by people in power. A poetry slam is a place for all voices. Listen and get HEARD!
Before you enter your local Australian Poetry Slam Heat polish up your poetry, write your words, modify your meter and shine up your stanzas at an APS Poetry Workshop.DEFNE will guide you in writing words that electrify the imagination. Express your creative ideas or reshape existing work into competition-ready pieces. Learn about poetry slams and how to use your voice and body to bring the house down on stage. Whether this is your first time experimenting with thoughts to the page or you have been writing for years this workshop is for you.
DEFNE is a queer Turkish-Australian multidisciplinary artist with a style that’s definitely hers. She is the Creative Director and Host of West Side Poetry, a monthly hybrid slam in Parramatta and online. DEFNE has featured at State Library NSW, Art Gallery NSW, Story Week, ‘23 Adelaide Writers’ Week, and been published in UNSWeetend. Her Bankstown Grand Slam team performance at the Sydney Opera House won bronze. She performed her poetry and song show, “DEFNE Opens Up”, at Flight Path Theatre, and her play, “Stomach It”, under OutLoud’s Levitate Mentorship. DEFNE’s work explores relationships in all their forms—be it romantic, familial, platonic, or with ourselves and mental health, abuse, and culture. The world’s her runway as she overruns it with shared vulnerability and revolutionary intimacy.
Content Warning: Most Poetry Slams are all ages and some content may not be suitable for children. Performances may include strong language and / or adult themes.
Supported by: The Australian Government through Creative Australia, and the NSW Government through Create NSW. Also supported by Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Mumbai LitFest, Singapore Writers Festival and Byron Writers Festival.
Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.
We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment for all. If you require any accommodations to attend this event please contact 4732 7891
Click here to book now
Australian Poetry Slam Penrith Heat
Who: All ages
When: Thursday 18 September | 6.30-9pm
Where: Borland Foyer, The Joan
Tickets: $5 per person. Bookings are essential.
Poets Run This!
The Australian Poetry Slam (APS) is giving the bullhorn back to the bards. The word nerds. The oral storytellers. The quiet thoughtful ones. The romantics. A poetry slam is a place for all voices.
Join the nation-wide search for the people’s poet. It’s APS 2025 – The Election Special. Local poets get two minutes to wow with their ideas in a form of spell casting called Slamming Poetry. They electrify your imagination.
Then the audience sends two of these writers to represent Penrith in the Sydney Final with nothing but the mic, words and deep exhales of honesty. Who will make it to the National Final at the Sydney Opera House? You decide!
The National Winner or ‘Slambassador’ for 2025 will win a prize worth $20,000, including publication and a tour of Austral-Asia, sharing their creative thoughts and inspiring people everywhere to speak their own poetry.
So what are you waiting for? Poets get ready to wrap your fingers around the mic and strut your stuff!
Keen to perform? Please purchase a ticket using the ‘buy tickets’ button and arrive at the theatre at least 15 minutes prior to the performance start time to sign up. Poets of all experience levels are invited to enter, and must perform in their residing state or territory and nearest heat. Full APS ‘25 rules can be found at www.australianpoetryslam.com/rules
Prefer to watch? You don’t have to compete, join the audience and watch the slam in action – simply click the ‘buy tickets’ button to book now.
Hosted by DEFNE
DEFNE is a queer Turkish-Australian multidisciplinary artist with a style that’s definitely hers. She is the Creative Director and Host of West Side Poetry, a monthly hybrid slam in Parramatta and online. DEFNE has featured at State Library NSW, Art Gallery NSW, Story Week, ‘23 Adelaide Writers’ Week, and been published in UNSWeetend. Her Bankstown Grand Slam team performance at the Sydney Opera House won bronze. She performed her poetry and song show, “DEFNE Opens Up”, at Flight Path Theatre, and her play, “Stomach It”, under OutLoud’s Levitate Mentorship. DEFNE’s work explores relationships in all their forms—be it romantic, familial, platonic, or with ourselves and mental health, abuse, and culture. The world’s her runway as she overruns it with shared vulnerability and revolutionary intimacy.
Doors open/poet sign-up at: 6pm
Slam starts at: 6.30pm
Content Warning: Most Poetry Slams are all ages and some content may not be suitable for children. Performances may include strong language and / or adult themes.
Supported by: The Australian Government through Creative Australia, and the NSW Government through Create NSW. Also supported by Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Mumbai LitFest, Singapore Writers Festival and Byron Writers Festival.