SA Poetry Slam

SA Poetry Slam 2026 State Final tops off a fabulous series!

  • Winners!
  • Winner – Maha
  • Runner-up – Miles Falahey
  • Sarah Rowe
  • Ben Adams
  • Solar
  • Sahil Choujar
  • Chelsea Avard
  • Jas
  • Lauren Ann
  • Conor Brown
  • Sacrifice – Megan Ellis
  • Guest – Arantza Garcia Ferrand
  • MC – Tracy “Coogs” McNally
  • Timer / scorer – Carissa Fischer
  • Hats / rules – Matthew Pankhurst
  • Hats – Nadia Patterson
  • Pics – Jazz Fechner-Lante

After five stunning heats, the SA State Final of the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam took local spoken word performance to a new level. We saw ten brilliant competitive performances, a fabulous sacrificial poet, a world class guest, and previously unseen stagecraft from the SWSA … ... Read more ...

2026 Australian Poetry Slam – SA Heat 5

Friday 4 September 2026
Doors open for sign-up at 6:30pm

Woodcroft Library
175 Bains Road, Morphett Vale, SA 5162

$15 to compete or listen
Click here to book.

Who will become our next Australian Poetry Slam Champion as audiences vote in events around the country? The prize? They tour Australasia sharing their creative thoughts and inspiring people everywhere to speak their own poetry.

Two poets chosen by the audience at each of our five South Australian heats will head to the SA Final. At the final, our winner and runner-up will be off to the Nationals at the Sydney Opera … ... Read more ...

SA Poetry Slam 2026 – Heat 4 Jives to the heights!

  • Heat 4 Winners
  • Heat 4 Winner – Chelsea Avard
  • Heat 4 Runner-Up – Maha
  • Megan Ellis
  • Bryan McQueen-Mason
  • Suzi Hall
  • Pradyumna
  • Avalanche
  • Brooklyn
  • Aaron Woolford
  • Jas
  • Amy
  • Aaron Mitchell
  • Tim O’Loughlin
  • Tabitha
  • John Willison
  • Lexis Vhi
  • Sacrifice – Carissa Fischer
  • Guest – Thermodynamics
  • MC Tracy McNally
  • Serving the hat
  • Volunteer of the Hat – Nadia Patterson

What a night that turned out to be! SA Heat 4 of the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam at Jive attracted 16 poets and a totally engaged audience who witnessed a fantastic sequence of performances; close scoring; the highly skilled Holder of The Hat, SWSA … ... Read more ...

SA Poetry Slam 2026 – Heat 3 cooks!

  • Heat 3 Winners
  • Heat 3 Winner – Solar
  • Heat 3 Runner-Up – Ben Adams
  • Maha
  • Athena
  • Luke Greaves
  • Suzi Hall
  • Jill Wherry
  • Jacqueline Collier
  • Avalanche
  • Eva Bialobrzeski
  • Nikki Lovell
  • Bryan McQueen-Mason
  • Kamala Watkins
  • Erin Bell
  • Pradyumna Kiran
  • Amy Schiller
  • John Willison
  • Chelsea Avard
  • Guest – Katherine Sortini
  • Sacrifice – Nadia Patterson
  • MC – Tracy McNally
  • Timer/scorer – Matthew Pankhurst
  • Heat 3 Audience – Campbelltown Library

SA Heat 3 of the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam at Campbelltown Library continued the amazing level of performances seen in Heats 1 and 2. Once again, we were treated to wide range of styles and … ... Read more ...

2026 Australian Poetry Slam – SA Heat 4

Thursday 20 August 2026
Doors open for sign-in: 6:30pm

Jive Nightclub
181 Hindley St, Adelaide, SA 5000

$15 to compete or listen
Click here to book.

Who will become our next Australian Poetry Slam Champion as audiences vote in events around the country? The prize? They tour Australasia sharing their creative thoughts and inspiring people everywhere to speak their own poetry.

Two poets chosen by the audience at each of our five South Australian heats will head to the SA Final. At the final, our winner and runner-up will be off to the Nationals at the Sydney Opera House!

Poets: … ... Read more ...

2026 Australian Poetry Slam SA Heat 3 guest performer – Katherine Sortini

Kathrine looks seriously cool in this pic, right? Well, that’s because she is!

Playwright, director, performer, poet and winner of the 2023 State Slam Final at Goodwood theatre, Kathrine Sortini can add Guest Performer at Heat Three of the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam competition to her impressive bio.

Katherine Sortini (she/they) is a queer, first-generation Italian-Australian theatre maker, writer and spoken word artist. She is the founder of award-winning independent theatre company Deus Ex Femina and Creative Director of Feast Festival.

In 2025, Katherine received the Ruby Award for the Frank Ford Young Achiever Award, recognising her contribution to … ... Read more ...

2026 Australian Poetry Slam – SA Heat 3

Saturday 15 August 2026
Doors open for sign-in: 6:30pm

Campbelltown Public Library
171 Montacute Rd, Newton, SA 5074

$15 to compete or listen
Click here to book.

Who will become our next Australian Poetry Slam Champion as audiences vote in events around the country? The prize? They tour Australasia sharing their creative thoughts and inspiring people everywhere to speak their own poetry.

Two poets chosen by the audience at each of our five South Australian heats will head to the SA Final. At the final, our winner and runner-up will be off to the Nationals at the Sydney Opera House!… ... Read more ...

SA Poetry Slam 2026 – Heat 2 continues the quality!

  • Heat 2 winners
  • Heat 2 winner – Lauren Ann
  • Heat 2 runner-up – Conor Brown
  • Bianca Polson
  • Bryan McQueen-Mason
  • Nadia Willison
  • Ben Adams
  • Tabitha Cwiek
  • John Willison
  • Suzi Hall
  • Bart Michael
  • Susan Brame
  • Pradyumna Kiran
  • Miles Falahey
  • Guest – Courtney Jaye
  • MC – Tracy McNally

SA Heat 2 of the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam saw another high-quality set of performances from our poets in front of an enthusiastic and supportive audience at Parks Library. The scoring was extremely close, made more so by many of the poets going over time and losing valuable points… Congratulations to winner Lauren Ann and … ... Read more ...