Ed Bell isn’t looking for paradise, despite the thorny road that has led him to the here and now. As host of a Paris-based literary association for the last three years, he has encountered hundreds of short, yet lived, experiences. A notable theme throughout has been that of separation, uprooting, expulsion: Odysseus tossed by a hundred Seas, and Penelope besieged by a hundred Suitors. This performance will use the media of elegiac poetry, blues piano, Norwegian dance and  plaintive voice to sing The Lamentable Tragedy of the Happy Exile.  

Jeffrey Greene has published five collections of poetry.  He is the author of the memoir French Spirits and three personalized nature books.  A fourth nature book, Seven Music Forests, is in production. He is also the author of Shades of the Other Shore, a book of mixed genre writing: sketches, prose pieces, and poetry written in collaboration with painter Ralph Petty.  His writing has been supported by the NEA, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and Rinehart Fund, and he was a winner of the Samuel French Morse Prize, the Randall Jarrell Award, and the “Discovery”/ The Nation Award.  His poems, short stories, and essays have appeared numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Poetry, The Nation, Ploughshares, Agni, Southwest Review and the anthologies Strangers in Paris, Intimacy, and Nothing to Declare: A Guide to Flash Sequence. He is professor emeritus at the American University of Paris and mentors for the Pan-European MFA Program, with its residency in Barcelona this year. 

Rethabile Masilo is a Mosotho poet who has lived in France for more than 30 years.  He left his country,
Lesotho, as a refugee in 1981, eventually ending up in the USA where he continued his biology studies. He moved to France in 1987. Rethabile has published four books of poetry and two poetry anthologies. In 2014 his poem ‘Swimming’ from the book Waslap won the Dalro First Prize in poetry, as well as the Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry in Periodicals a year later.  The poem had first appeared in the magazine New Coin, Vol. 49, Number 1, in June 2013. In 2016 his second volume Waslap, published by The Onslaught Press, was awarded the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry. That same year in October he was invited to participate in the 20th Poetry Africa Festival in Darban, and in June 2019 in the International Poetry Festival of Medellin. Masilo’s books are Things that are silent (Pindrop Press, 2012), Waslap (The Onslaught Press, 2015), Letter to country (Canopic Publishing, 2016), and Ooaling (The Onslaught Press, 2018). He blogs at Poéfrika (http://poefrika.blogspot.com) and co-edits Canopic Jar
(https://www.canopicpublishing.com/blog) with the writer Phil Rice. He is currently writing poems toward a fifth volume.

Jennifer Blowdryer

JENNIFER BLOWDRYER got her dumb name from her SF punk band, the Blowdryers, in 1977. She’s written columns for Maximin rock’n’roll, New York press, and downtown, and her books include: white trash debutante, modern English : a slang dictionary, and Good Advice for young trendy people of all ages. She remains a band singer/writer, recent releases include Blowdryer Punk Soul: Pinot Grigio and 4 Essays – the most harmless person you are ever going to meet in your life, Bent Boy Press, SF, 2018. She lives in NYCs East Village.

SpokenWord theme (should you want to follow it): Forests

Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Carrie Chappell is the author of many poems, some of which have appeared in 45th Parallel, Anastamos, CALAMITY, Cimarron Review, cream city review, FORTH Magazine, Harpur Palate, Leveler, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, and those that this. Her lyric and book essays have been published in DIAGRAM, Fanzine, The Iowa Review, The Rumpus, The Rupture, and Xavier Review. Since completing her Master of Fine Arts from the University of New Orleans’ Creative Writing Workshop in 2013, she has shared her creative and scholarly writing both in print and in public readings and has actively sought to publish essays that continue the discussion of contemporary women-authored texts. Each April, she curates the Verse of April project, a digital anthology of homage to the poets. Currently, she lives in Paris, France, and serves as Poetry Editor for Sundog Lit.

Author / wordist and inter-disciplinary artist, Jamika Ajalon works with different mediums independently, but also in  multiple  fusions- incorporating written and spoken text, sound/music, and visuals.   Her poems, stories and essays have been published in various digital and hard copy publications internationally.  She is a columnist for Itchy Silk magazine  (“queer plume: the fugitive diaries”), co conspirator at lpressl.com,  guest lecturer , (including Vienna Arts Academy, and American University Paris),vocalist, writer/ musician, (Zenzile/Jamika & the Argonauts).  She has performed her audio visual anti lectures /sonic slam, and exhibited widely, (including Rennes Biennale of contemporary art,(2018),DISTURBANCE expo Kunsthalle Leipzig,(2017),Beton Salon, Paris (2017).  She has a BA Film/Video, MA Communications in Culture and Society, Goldsmiths University,London.  Her book poetry “Take Back the Narrative” is now available for public consumption.
www.jamikaajalon.com

Thibaut Narme was born in Courcouronnes, France and grew up in the urban sprawl of Dammarie-les-Lys on the outskirts of Paris. After getting his Bachelor in Economics from the Sorbonne University, he moved to Sweden, then onto Denmark, where he obtained his Master’s Degree.  He returned to France in 2014 and taught Economics and Management at the undergrad level. He first started writing poetry in French in high school before switching to English during his stay in Copenhagen. Thibaut has been part of the Paris Anglophone scene since 2015, when he frequented SpokenWord and the Other Writers’ Workshop. He has been co-hosting its successor – the AWOL writing workshop – since 2017. He released his debut poetry e-collection in 2016 and is getting ready to release his second, titled Hamburger Redd Bull, this September.

90-second slam competition

Paris heat – 23rd September at SpokenWord

Practice – round 2 at SpokenWord on 9th and 16th September

INFO & RULES for the 23rd September heat

Format

• 3 rounds with up to 15 contestants – 12 is probably ideal
• 90 seconds on the mic each round
• The contestants with the 3 highest aggregate scores go through to the final

Tiebreak

In the event that there are more than 3 contestants that qualify though their aggregate scores, the lowest of these qualifying scores will be subject to a tiebreak. This will be decided by a playoff, with the highest score in the playoff going through.

E.g. the highest scores are 100, 92, 88 and 88. 100 and 92 immediately qualify, who goes through from the two contestants with a score of 88 will be decided by a playoff.

Judging

Judging is by a panel of judges chosen from the audience. There must be a minimum of 4 judges, and a maximum of 7. The judges should not be friends or relatives of any of the contestants.

Scoring

Scoring is out of 10 and should take into account both performance and content. An example as a rough guide:  a contestant performs exceptionally well, their piece is humorous but essentially trivial, they should expect a score of around 6 or 7.

SLAM RULES

• Contestants must only perform their own, original work
• No singing or use of props
• No deliberately sexist, racist, disablist or homophobic language
• Each contestant has 90 seconds on the mic for each round.
• The clock starts from the moment the contestant speaks. (Contestants need to be reminded of this, to avoid introductions, etc.)
• Per round, 1 point is deducted from each contestant’s score for every 3 seconds they go over time.
• If a contestant completes a round within 1 second either side of the 90 seconds, they will be awarded 5 bonus points.