August Bankstown Poetry Slam ft. Rataj Abdullah

Welcome to Australia's largest regular poetry slam! 
Our feature artist this month is also our NATIONAL YOUTH POETRY SLAM CHAMPION Y'ALL!! Come see our reigning champ, Rataj Adbullah, live on stage!

Rataj is an 18 year old spoken word artist from Gumbaynggirr Country in Coffs Harbour, now based in Sydney. Rooted in her Eritrean heritage, her work weaves together poetry and personal storytelling, exploring themes of identity, displacement, collective grief, and radical hope.

In 2024, she won the title of National Youth Poetry Slam Champion, following her win at the Coffs Harbour Slam in 2023. She is currently a Youth Ambassador for Red Room Poetry.

Anyone can also sign up to perform on the night, this is your chance to win a spot in our 2026 Grand Slam! 

Sign up time is at 6:15 pm!

Your free ticket gets you access to the slam, fresh watermelon, world class poetry and some Bankstown class dad-jokes, courtesy of our MC Bilal Hafda.

For rules on participating in the slam, please see below.

🍉 If you are intending to sign up to perform at the slam, please book a ticket and arrive at 6:15 pm to sign up at the door. There's no guarantee that you will get a spot to perform on the night, if we have more sign-ups than there is time to get through, but we will do our best to make sure we have as many people as possible.

🍉 Regular slam rules apply: No age restrictions/ STRICT 3 minute time limit (try to limit poem introductions)/ no props or music/ if you want to sing in your poem (first of all how dare you be so talented) it should be part of your poem not the whole piece/ poetry must be your original work.

🍉 The top 4 scoring artists will be granted a spot at the Grand Slam.

🍉 Please note that signing up does not guarantee a performance spot. We have a lottery system in place whereby we randomly draw names so that it is fair for everyone, given the high sign up numbers!

Poetry aficionados, appreciators of HipHop and literature that beats with a thunderous heart — you absolutely do not want to miss this!

Please note that BPS is a not-for-profit charitable organisation so any extra donations go a long way in helping us support our artists! Thank you for your generosity ❤️‍🔥

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask away or email info@bankstownpoetryslam.com