Story-Fest 2017 brings poetry slam competition to Sydney

Story-Fest is happening in Sydney from 13-15 October 2017. It’s a three day-event culminating in the Australian Poetry Slam – National Final, which takes place at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday 15 October 2017.

Story-Fest is organised by Word Travels, a not-for-profit arts association started by Miles Merrill who is originally from Chicago.

According to the Word Travels website:

“Every October, join the nation’s mightiest wordsmiths for live literary mayhem: spoken word, poetry, stories, lyrics, monologues and slam finals. This boutique festival is unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Prepare to have your mind sewn back together after each event.”

We’ll make sure to have an appointment scheduled for the Monday to have our mind stitched up.

The lineup for this year’s festival includes (from the Word Travels website):

• Arielle Cottingham – Afro-Latina feminist poet and current Australian Poetry Slam champion
• Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa – first-generation Sikh storyteller and Australia’s Got Talent contestant
• Ian Keteku – two-time Canadian national slam champion
• Candy Royalle – award-winning performance artist and poet
• Philip Wilcox – 2015 Australian Poetry Slam champion

How did Story-Fest get its start in life?

“Merrill formed Word Travels while working with The State Library of NSW. A number of spoken-word projects were born out of this collaboration… From 2005 to 2009, the library assisted Word Travels in setting up Australia’s first national poetry slam. In 2008, Word Travels also produced Night Words, Australia’s first spoken-word festival at the Sydney Opera House.”

And the rest is history.

If you’d like to find out more about Story-Fest, watch videos, or book your tickets head to the World Travels website.