Welcome to Australia's largest regular poetry slam!

Launching her first book, The Shape of Dust, this month’s incredible feature is Lamisse Hamouda!

Her book will be available on the night via our amazing bookseller, Enough Said Books.

Lamisse (she/her) is a youth worker, writer, poet, workshop facilitator and occasional performer and producer. Her first book, 'The Shape of Dust' (Pantera Press, 2023) was co-authored with her father, Hazem Hamouda. Lamisse has written for a range of publications, including Arts of the Working Class (Berlin) and Jdeed Magazine (Beirut.) Lamisse has run workshops with Marion Writers, Emerging Writer's Festival, Ferien vom Krieg (Germany) and the Institute for Critical Race Research. Lamisse's poetry was published in the anthology, Arab, Australian, Other: Stories of Race and Identity and she's recently begun performing her poetry as spoken-word.

We are also lucky to be joined by Vaughn Upward-Garcia as this month’s support feature!

Vaughn Upward-Garcia is a Peruvian-Australian poet born and raised on Ngambri Country (Queanbeyan, NSW).
His work confronts and examines the human condition by confronting and examining his own. He writes and performs verse that moves seamlessly between ferocity and tenderness, hope and indignation. Influenced by rap, spoken word and more traditional poetic forms, he seeks to blur the lines that divide these styles

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. We generally do not offer free artist tickets but if you you have special circumstances/are experiencing financial difficulty, please get in touch

🍉 Regular slam rules apply: No age restrictions/ STRICT 3 minute time limit (try to limit poem introductions)/ no props or music/ poetry must be your original work.

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

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

Thank you to Outloud for their venue support. Please note that after hours access to the Bankstown Arts Centre is via the back gate on the left hand side of the building (via the car park on Olympic Pde).

Please note that BPS is a volunteer run 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