Caravan Slam

Overview

Sydney's literary scene used to look a little dry. But, while the Sydney Writers' Festival used to be the place to see stars of the written word, nowadays salons without the pomp like Even Books and Penguin Plays Rough are almost commonplace, joined by innumerable other ventures in spoken word like the Campfire Collective and the unexpected, yet appropriate, appearance of Late Night Library in Surry Hills.

And now there's Caravan Slam, as well. Caravan is a poetry slam, and their first event was a three-stage progressive party up and down King St in St Peters, leading its guests to heats in one venue and the next, until the evening ended with a dramatic grand finale back where they'd started. For their August engagement, they're taking over a single bar in Surry Hills for a night of rhyme and rhythm.

Caravan Slam entrants, experienced and new, compete in three minute pieces to be in the evening's final. Now the Slam has a second stanza to the evening, collaborating with the Academy of Emergency Art Sydney for Emergency Poetry, which tries to bring art about today's events into tonight's gallery, or slam. It's not too late to join the Caravan, or watch it marching by.

Image by Jon Mann.