Australian Poetry Slam SA Heat 5 goes massive at Jive!

  • runner up Elise Witter & winner Suzie Hall
  • Heat 5 winner Suzie Hall
  • heat 5 runner up Elise Witter
  • Murphy
  • Tiffany Wilson
  • Carissa Fischer
  • Avalanche
  • Priya Cantwell
  • Jill Wherry
  • Tim O’Loughlin
  • Brooklyn Saliba
  • Olenka Toroshenko
  • Pep
  • Caitlin Cantwell
  • Carita D’Agostini
  • Meo Szetu
  • Blake Kramm
  • Holly Peters
  • Maddie Jones
  • Peter Walker
  • Annette Swain
  • Sacrifice Chelsea Avard
  • Guest Maha
  • MC Tracy McNally
  • Jive

What a way to finish off the SA Heats of the 2025 Australian Poetry Slam! One of the biggest turn-outs ever seen at a slam heat completely filled Jive with quality poets and enthusiastic audience members. The vibe was buzzing, the performances were outstanding, and two worthy winners are through to the SA State Final at Goodwood Theatre & Studios on 27th September. The scores were high, the competition was tight, but in the end, it was congratulations to winner Suzie Hall and runner-up Elise Witter!

A special shout-out to the poets who came along expecting to compete but who missed out, literally by the luck of the draw. We are obliged to follow the national rules which limit the number of competitors for each heat to 20, with a standard process for deciding by ballot who makes up the final 5 of the 20 competitors if the sign-ups are over-subscribed. Indeed, we were well over the limit for Heat 5, so several poets missed out. We know how frustrating and just plain annoying this can be after you write your poem, practise it, get the timing right, gather up the nerve to actually perform it, make arrangements to get to the venue and then find out at the last minute you will not in the competition. The effort is not wasted, and there will be more chances to perform your work in front of appreciative audiences. Keep an eye on the SWSA website and on the Adelaide Poetry Gig Guide on Facebook for info about the many and varied upcoming events around town.

Our heartfelt thanks go to our fabulous guest performer, Maha, for a totally spell-binding set, Chelsea Avard for agreeing to be the sacrificial poet at very short notice, our judges, the audience, and our volunteers, all of whom are essential to creating an event as good as this one was.

And a massive thank you to Tam and Jive, who have supported events by SWSA through thick and thin. Jive is a well-loved institution in this city but they cannot prosper with out regular audiences. Keep an eye on their website for what’s on (there’s heaps!) and get along to the gigs.

Pics by Ian Gibbins.