The
Berkeley Slam is a weekly spoken word celebration and tournament
that features internationally renown poets, storytellers,
comedians, and emcees.
This is no ordinary, ho-hum open mic! Just ask our audiences – we
draw 100-300 people every week to our show! In addition to
the finest spoken word features around, our vibrant poetry
scene spawns some of the best local talent in the nation!
At every show, we also host a live improvisational band or
DJ!
We have an open sign up (poets: get there at 7:30 to
vie for the first 7 guaranteed slots, the remaining 8 poets
are picked by lottery) at most shows – just check
out the calendar (sometimes we host an invitational slam).
We
run our slam with fair and transparent rules (they are
printed
on your program when you arrive and are here on the website).
Judges are picked at random (also by lottery) out of
the audience so you never know what kind of poetry will win
on any given week!
We give away the largest cash prizes
on the
West Coast: $90 cash every week split between the top
three
point getters! We are in the process of documenting
our literary and performance scene here, so stay tuned for
a poet gallery,
a new Berkeley Slam CD, a Berkeley Slam DVD series,
and
more!
Berkeley Poetry Slam
Wednesdays at The Starry Plough Pub
Call (510) 841-2082 for more info.
The Starry Plough Pub
3101 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, California
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