Seattle, WA -- May 5, 2008 -- Youth Speaks Seattle, Seattle's finest spoken word and poetry organization for youth, is pleased to present the final installment in its annual series of all-city youth poetry slams. Slamtastic Voyage: Grand Slam Finals will be held at 7pm on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at Pigott Auditorium at Seattle University. The event will feature twelve finalists from the four preliminary all-city slams as well as Danny Sherrard, the current National Individual Slam Champion and a former member of the Seattles Youth Poetry Slam Team. The top five poets of the slam will go on to represent Seattle in the 11th Annual Brave New Voices Festival this summer in Washington, D.C.
Slam is a style of competitive poetry that has become a cutting-edge art form, transcending boundaries of race, class, gender, generation, and orientation. In slam, poets are judged on both content and performance, with value given to their words as well as the way in which those words are delivered.
The annual Seattle Youth Poetry Slam series is open to youth ages 13-19 from across the greater Seattle area. This year, 50 youth competed in four preliminary slams at the Richard Hugo House, Oseao/Electric Tea Garden Cafe, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. The twelve youth who will present their work in the Grand Slam are: Dakota Alcantara-Camacho, Conor Anderson, Arianne Bergman, Corbin Bugni, Mikeya Jackson-Harper, Michael Maiden, Mary Lambert, Clare Lilliston, Rose McAleese, Ronnie Reynolds, Susy Sobel, and Minilik Yewondwossen.
The Seattle Youth Poetry Slam Series determines the team that will represent Seattle at the 11th Annual Brave New Voices, which will draw top youth poets from around the country to Washington, D.C., in July for a five-day literary arts festival that will include the International Youth Poetry Slam Finals, just months before the presidential election. The Seattle team has regularly placed among the nation's top ten in this exhilarating national competition, last year featuring over forty U.S. teams as well as a team from Leeds, England.
Youth Speaks Seattle invites youth and youth advocates of all ages to support, attend, and participate in one of the Seattle area's most exciting annual arts offerings. The 2007 Grand Slam held last year in Pigott was
completely sold out. Presale tickets are $5 for youth and $10 for adults, or $7 and $15 at the door. We strongly encourage those interested in the event to purchase tickets in advance at
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/33108.
About Youth Speaks Seattle
Youth Speaks Seattle is the premier provider of literary arts education in the area. It is an intergenerational group of poets, activists and educators working to support and encourage art and literacy in the lives of young people. The group enhances public education with in-school residencies along with community-based writing workshops, performances, and open microphone readings. Youth Speaks encourages young people to think critically, write honestly and reclaim their own educational process so that the next generation of leaders can emerge. More information available at
www.seattleyouthspeaks.org.
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