KPU Poetry Slam Team Competes at Canadian Festival of Spoken Word

The biggest poetry slam tournament in Canada hosted the talent of twenty-two slam teams from across the country in downtown Winnipeg from Oct 23-30. Among them was Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s own Slamapalooza team, who performed impressively in the first two rounds of the tournament.

“It’s nice to have an avenue where you can actually perform your work and know that people are there because they love the poetry,” says Julia Pileggi, a member of KPU’s poetry slam team.

The festival has grown from six teams to 20 over the nine years of its existence. It has become a national showcase for spoken word talent, and events such as panels and workshops are held at the same time as the competition.

“No matter who you are, the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word always inspires you to write,” says Slamapalooza Organizer and Team Coach Simon Massey. “You get exposed to so much amazing poetry there, both in and out of the competition.”

Throughout the past year, poets competed at the monthly Slamapalooza poetry slams in the Grassroots Cafe to try and earn a spot on KPU’s team, and ultimately to represent the slam at CFSW. The poetry slams are hosted by Massey who, in addition to being team coach, is also the vice-president of the Kwantlen Creative Writing Guild.

Each poet is given a score after performing their work by judges from the audience. After two rounds, the poet who scores first receives $100, while the next two runner ups receive $50 and $25. Funding for the slam is typically provided by the Kwantlen Student Association.

“We have had a great relationship with the KSA. They’ve been very good about providing us funding,” says Massey. “So that’s been wonderful, and a very good boon to student life here at Kwantlen.”

The funding enabled Slamapalooza to compete at CFSW, where they placed second in the first round of competition and third in the second round. Next year’s national competition, which will take place in Peterborough Ontario, will hopefully see the team’s continued success.

“I heard a lot of people talking about our team, saying positive things, which was sort of the goal we had going in,” says Massey. “We said, ‘Let’s get them to talk about us.’”