E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

This just in.... Paul Casey (Ó Bhéal, Cork), Colin Dardis (Purely Poetry, Belfast), Abby Oliveira (Poetry Chicks, Derry), Desmond Swords (Supa Fast Building, Dublin), Dominick Taylor (On The Nail, Limerick) and John Walsh (North Beach Poetry Nights, Galway) are the six regional organisers of the annual All-Ireland Live Poetry Slam Championships, now in their sixth year! Each year in November, after regional heats in Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Galway and Limerick have produced two finalists from each province, the finals are held to judge who of Ireland's top eight performance poets will walk away with the prestigious crown of All Ireland Poetry Slam Champion. As the event has no formal funding we are advertising our project on the crowd-funding site fundit.ie, in the hope of raising €1000 to cover prize money and expenses for travelling poets, plus the printing costs for 100 copies of a special commemorative edition chapbook of the 16-18 poems that co...

The Winners of the Poetry Society's SLAMbassadors 2010 announced. Out of over 400 talented young people 10 were crowned the lucky SLAMbassadors UK 2010 by Judges Adisa and Joelle Taylor. Take a look and a listen at their videos here: http://slam.poetrysociety.org.uk/ Wishing you all a very happy christmas and stay poetic! Festively yours, Foyle Young Poets

Poetry Review Volume 100: 2 Summer 2010 is out, with poems from Alfred Corn, Ruth Fainlight, Alan Jenkins, John Kinsella, Sarah Maguire , Chris McCabe, Daljit Nagra , myself, and others.  Also, a few good articles on slam poetry.  Having been involved with bringing slam poetry to Canada fifteen years ago (in the summer of 1994 I believe) via the nationally-infamous cabaret nights of Vox Hunt, that led to YAWP! and the emergence of an entire slam domination in Montreal of the art form, for a few years, I then anthologised slam poets and poems alongside major page poets like Glyn Maxwell , Michael Donaghy , and others, calling the new wave of poets that read well on and off the page Fusion Poets, with co-editor Regie Cabico , when we put out the 1998 anthology Poetry Nation .  Good to see the British finally taking to their own indigenous slam artists, and welcoming them in, off the stage, onto the page.  Meanwhile, my own working practice has moved on, and I collabo...