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After a 2-year hiatus, the Scottish Youth Poetry Slam Live Final is back on Wednesday 5th October 2022 at Perth Theatre and six schools across the country have been invited to take part.
Primary 5, 6 and 7 pupils at St Ninian’s Episcopal Primary School in Perth will represent Tayside at next month’s final at Perth Theatre.
Scottish Youth Poetry Slam is a bi-annual event which sees Scotland’s most talented young wordsmiths go head-to-head in a fast-paced, good natured, highly inclusive competition.
This year’s event will be hosted by poet, Tawona Earnest, a crowd of around 200 – including participants in the Slam and their families and guests – will be entertained at the final by five brilliant young teenage writers from Scottish Youth Poetry Slam Digital Writing Group which was set up during lockdown. Members of the group are – Rhys Pearce, Tylar Gaizley; Rachel Roberts; Lauryn Veal and Shreemayi Kurup – who will be joining digitally from India. The group are working on an EP which is out in December and will be performing a preview of this work which is inspired by the culture of cities; their ecosystems; their character; their identity and their similarities.
This year’s schools participating in the live final are:
Tayside – St Ninian’s Episcopal Primary School, Perth
Argyll & Bute – Hermitage School, Helensburgh
Grampian – Findochty Primary School, Moray
Central East – Cornton Primary School, Stirling
Central West – Hillhead Primary School, Glasgow
South – Moniaive Young Theatre Makers Workshop, Dumfries and Galloway
Linda Thorogood, St Ninian’s Episcopal Primary School, Perth, commented: “We’re thrilled to have been invited to take part in the Scottish Youth Poetry Slam. The kids are very excited to experience a Slam event and we are delighted to be delivering the teaching of poetry through a national event, where we represent Perth and Kinross Council.”
Rachel McJury from Confab, organisers of the event, commented: “We are delighted to have the Slam returning this year. Young people from primary schools across the country will be taking part and the Slam gives them the chance to express themselves freely and work with their fellow classmates to write and perform a poem for the final. We’re looking forward to hearing what they come up with and can’t wait to see them all perform!”
The last Scottish Youth Poetry Slam took place at The Beacon Arts Centre, Inverclyde in 2018. The 2018 winners were Kelso High School with their poem ‘Parents v Kids’. The individual winner was Cara Mather from Cults Academy in Aberdeen with her poem ‘Maybe’. 2020’s slam event was unable to take place due to COVID 19.
