at the Spice Factory

Calling all poets and all lovers of poetry!

OPEN MIC: There will be 5 spots in the open mic with a 5 min time limit.

SLAM: Slam Rules: no props, no costumes, no musical instruments, original work only, no racist, homophobic, gender bias or otherwise hateful speech allowed, memorization optional, team pieces welcome.

JUNE HYP SLAM FEATURE: David Silverberg

David Silverberg's new book of poetry As Close to the Edge Without Going Over (ChiZine) is now available. Fusing science fiction with horror and surrealism, As Close is a unique book that peeks into David's views of the future, while also becoming his most personal book he's ever written.

He is a poet, theatre artist, journalist, editor, event organizer and producer. He is the artistic director and founder of Toronto Poetry Slam, and was the director of two Canadian Festivals of Spoken Word in Toronto. He edited the Canadian spoken word anthology Mic Check (Quattro Books) and has performed his spoken word poetry across the world, including Vancouver, Montreal, London (UK) and Paris. His first solo theatre show Jewnique debuted in May 2018. His non-fiction work has appeared in The Washington Post, BBC News, The Globe & Mail, Vice, Broken Pencil, Quill & Quire, NOW Magazine and many more. Find him at DavidSilverberg.ca

WORKSHOP: How to host a show...any show! Facilitated by Toronto Poetry Slam founder David Silverberg. In this workshop, learn how to host any show (open mic, slam, panel, wedding, etc) with personality, flair, humour and professionalism. As the host for more than 200 shows and 15 years experience running events, David will reveal several tricks of the trade, including when to pepper banter into a show, how to deal with unruly audiences and mic etiquette. This workshop is for any level of host/producer.