236 East 3rd Street Between Ave B & C
Reverend Pedro Pietri Way
New York City

PoetrySlam

The first poetry slam ever in New York City was held at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 1989, and 20 years later, we've become part of the cultural history of this city, still going strong. Today's Nuyorican Poetry Slam is the result of our tradition of talented hosts, amazing performers and heart-stopping performances. Each one has helped to develop the legendary Poetry Slam reputation that is associated with the Cafe around the world. If you want to learn who these people have been, the years they participated, their contact info & lots more, please see Verbs on Asphalt, the authorized multimedia website that documents the whole story of Slam at the Nuyorican from the beginning.

Interested in slamming at the Cafe? See Slammin'@ the Nuyorican below.

ThisMonth

Wednesday Night Slam Open> Sign Up & Slam

Every Weds Night except first Weds of the month.
9pm>$7 admission
The first 20 poets to sign up will slam & the winner of this night is eligible to perform in the Friday Night Poetry Slam. Get there early & sign the book. Hosted by Jive Poetic

The Nuyorican Friday Night Poetry Slam

Every Friday Night>@10pm> $10 admission
Current Schedule:

• Feb 10>$10
• Feb 17>$10
• Feb 24>$10
• Mar 2>$10

The Nuyorican Friday Night Poetry Slam is pretty popular and fills up fast, so please get in line early. (suggested arrival latest 9:15pm). Hosted by Mahogany Browne.

Note: Semi-Final Slams>$12 Admission (5 times a year, see schedule)
Grand Slam Finale>$15 Admission (yearly event, usually April, see schedule)

If you are interested in becoming a Friday Night Slam Spotlight, please send samples of your work both written & recorded (MP3 or provide video links, etc.) to slamspot@nuyorican.org

The Open Room

Every Friday Night after the Poetry Slam> approx. 12:30am
Admission>$5 (Free if you stay after the Slam)
The Open Room is a Nuyorican poetic institution that happens right after the Friday Night Poetry Slam. Anyone can read one poem at the mic and every kind of poet and poetry is welcome. There are no judges and no numbers. Hosted by 2007 National Slam Team member, Advocate of Wordz.

Slammin'@ the Nuyorican

Poetry Slam @the Nuyorican is truly poetry of and by the people. Winners of any Nuyorican Poetry Slam are chosen entirely by our varied audience members; a continual stream of changing faces, ages and backgrounds that make up New York City on any given night. Audience judges are not required to have any special skills or history and that's what always makes our slam so exciting and unpredictable.

Many Poetry Slammers have begun their careers in either the Wednesday Night Slam Open or the Open Room. Some will come back and compete many times before winning a slam, so keep on coming! 2008 National Team member, Rico Steal, began his career at the Nuyorican in the Open Room and didn't quit until he was slamming on Friday Nights!

Winner of Wednesday Night Slam Open is eligible to compete in a Friday Night Slam. If you win a Friday Night Slam, you are eligible to compete in one of the five Semi-Final Poetry Slams that happen throughout our Slam season.

If you win a Semi-Final slam, you will become one of five poets to compete in our yearly Grand Slam Finale, which generally happens in April. The winner of that slam takes the Grand Slam Champion title for that year and immediately qualifies to be on our National Team. The rest of our yearly National Team comes out of three Run-Off Slams, which happen after the Grand Slam Finale. We send these team members to compete yearly in the National Poetry Slam. To learn more about our National Teams through the years, click here.

Spotlight Poets are featured before the Slam each Friday Night and are curated by the Nuyorican SlamMaster.

Have more questions about becoming a Poetry Slammer @ Nuyorican?

searchevents

get PDF of current month's calendar

---

everymonth

©2008 Nuyorican Poets Cafe. All rights reserved.