City Slam
Exeter has been hosting City Slam every April since 2023. City Slam is a spoken word competition to decide Exeter’s representative for Slamovision (spoken word slam meets Eurovision).
Slamovision is an international slam competition featuring poets from UNESCO Cities of Literature from all across the world - including Exeter.
Photo credit: Jorbein Photography
City Slam 2026
Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, Spork! Poetry and Taking the Mic present the 4th annual City Slam; an exciting competition to find the best spoken-word artist in Exeter (and across Devon).
12 poets will battle it out across 3 rounds of fierce but friendly competition. With feature sets from 2 incredible performance poets: former World Slam Champion Kat Francois, and award-winning Maria Ferguson.
The winner of the City Slam will be entered into Slamovision 2026, as well as receiving a cash prize of £150. Sign up details below!
Sign up to Slam!
To enter the slam, you need to register an interest by 5pm, Tue 31 Mar. The 12 Slammers will be chosen at random (if there are an excess of applicants) and announced by Fri 03 Apr. To register, just send an email to Tim on slam@speakinsong.co.uk with your name, age, and where you’re based. Slammers must be aged 16+ and based in Devon.
Featured Performers
Kat Francois was the first person to win a televised poetry slam in the UK, and a year later won the World Slam Championships. She’s an Educator, Poetry & Drama Performance Artist & Teacher, Playwright and Fitness Instructor.
As a playwright, Kat has written and performed acclaimed shows including Raising Lazarus, dealing with the experiences of Caribbean soldiers in WW1. She’s appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Saturday Live and Woman’s Hour, Radio 5 Live, Sky and BBC television. Kat also runs Onyx, a poetry and theatre performance group with young people, and provides youth and adult coaching in creative writing and performance, as well as Life Coaching through the creative process.
Maria Ferguson is a writer and performer, a finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024 and her debut collection, Alright, Girl? (Burning Eye, 2020), was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes.
On the stage, her one-woman show Fat Girls Don’t Dance (Oberon, 2017) won the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show; Essex Girl (Oberon, 2019) was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award and won Show of the Week at VAULT Festival.
She has been commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts, and BBC Radio. Her work has been featured in The Guardian and on Radio 4’s The Verb and Woman’s Hour. She is the Associate Producer of LIVEwire Poetry and teaches creative writing in a variety of settings. Her second poetry collection, Swell was published in 2025 by Penguin Random House.
City Slam 2025
Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, Spork! Poetry and Taking the Mic are joining forces once again to present the 3rd annual City Slam; an exciting competition to find the best spoken-word artist in Exeter (and across Devon).
Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, Spork! Poetry and Taking the Mic are joining forces once again to present the 3rd annual City Slam; an exciting competition to find the best spoken-word artist in Exeter (and across Devon).
12 poets will battle it out across 3 rounds of fierce but friendly competition. With feature slots from previous City Slam winner and stand-up poet Edward Tripp, as well as the brilliant award-winning poet Bryony Littlefair (“Fresh, unexpected, surprising”” – Pascale Petite,) and UK Slam Champion Bradley Taylor.
The winner of the City Slam will be entered into 2025’s Slamovision; an international slam competition featuring poets from UNESCO Cities of Literature all across the world, as well as receiving a cash prize of £150.
This year’s Slammers were: Hannah Girvan, Lawrence Hyne, Ceri Baker, Nattie Randall, Rachan Hegde, Heidi Pyper, Loren Green, Deborah Jones, Richard Thomson, Micha Colombo, Nicola Cripps, Kane John Mills, Peter Roe , Sonia Thakurdesai, Martha Bolt, Tyler Cichosz.
Kane John Mills went on to represent Exeter at Slamovision 2025 with the poem ‘Red’!
City Slam 2024
Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, Spork! Poetry and Taking the Mic joined forces once again to present the 2nd Annual City Slam; an exciting competition to find the best spoken-word artist in Exeter (and across Devon).
12 poets battled it out across 3 rounds of fierce but friendly competition. With feature slots from 2023 City Slam winner Jonah Corren, Bard of Exeter Ceri Baker, and a whopping headline set from Esther Koch; international slam champion and recent Finalist of Words First (BBC Radio 1 Xtra).
A gripping final between local legends Jackie Juno and Edward Tripp came down to the wire, with only 2 points separating the finalists; Edward Tripp took the 2024 City Slam crown!
In the autumn, Edward Tripp will represent Exeter in 2024’s Slamovision; an international slam competition featuring poets from UNESCO Cities of Literature all across the world!
Photo credit: Jorbein Photography
A huge thank you and congratulations to our featured performers and all our 2024 Slammers
James Turner | Tia Meraki | Laura Free | Micha Colombo | Shrividhya Iye | Josh Keen | Edward Tripp | Susan Taylor | Rob Casey | Peter Roe
City Slam 2023
We teamed up with local Slam experts Spork! and Taking the Mic for a very special slam, to find Exeter’s next Slamovision entry!
Exeter UNESCO City of Literature entered Slamovision for the first time in 2022, where we were represented by the fantastic Clare Morris, who finished in a fabulous 4th place.
Reigning champions Nottingham will once again host a night of Slamovision magic in 2023 — we think Exeter has got what it takes to challenge for the UNESCO Slam crown!
15 poets battled it out across 3 rounds of fierce but friendly competition. With feature slots from some local favourites and an incredible headline performance from Bristol-based poet and rapper Craft-D (aka Danny Pandolfi).
As well as entering this year’s Slamovision, the winner received a cash prize of £150!