Hammer and Tongue (largest Slam in the UK) live at Oxdox
Six of the Best Slam
Performance Time: 90 minutes

Hammer and Tongue will stage a ‘six of the best’ Slam directly after the screening of SlamNation - three current US poetry Slam Champions will compete against three of UK’s finest,  including Oxford’s own Sophia Blackwell.

Confirmed for the Oxdox Slam are:

Ainsley Burroughs (from the 2004 New York City ‘Nuyorican’ Slam Team, best-known Slam venue in the USA); Mohogany Browne (2004 Champion of New York City Louder Arts Slam Team); Jive Poetic (Buffalo Grand Slam Champ and 2004 Providence Slam Team); A.F. Harrold (reading poet and winner of several UK slams); Sophia Blackwell (One of Oxford’s own Hammer and Tongue Slam Team).

For those who view Oxford literature as the preserve of Auden and Shelley, the notion of poetry as a ‘high octane competitive sport’ might sound unlikely,  but for hundreds of folks in Oxford that describes a regular monthly night out.

Poetry Slams - head to head lyrical battles - came out of Chicago in the late 1980’s but have since found a home in downtown East Oxford.

At the monthly Hammer and Tongue Poetry Slam (first Tuesdays of the month at the Zodiac) leading exponents of the art compete in front of audiences of several hundreds. Slam poets have 3 minutes to move the audience. 

Local Oxford Slam champions have gone on to perform at national and international festivals from Glastonbury to Womad.


Venue:

26 October 9.30 p.m. - 11.00 p.m. Vaults
Café and Gardens: Radcliffe Square, High Street, Oxford