Eumundi Writers Festival 2025 Poetry Slam Heat

Multi award winning spoken word poet, Amy Ocean will host a fast and powerful experience with poets putting into words what matters. Performance by guest poet Sherly Anderson.

Slam poetry is a form of performance poetry that combines elements of writing, performance, audience participation and engagement and competition.  

An online Expression of Interest process invites poets to compete in the  Friday heat on 22/8/25 and then compete in the grand final on Sunday 24/8/25. To enter see the Eumundi Writers Festival Poetry Slam Award details under "Participation" on our website. Poets will also be welcomed from the audience on the Friday night.  Grand Final competitors are chosen by judges Roxanne McCarty-O’Kane, Lincoln Scott and Simon Cleary.

Lincoln Scott is an opera singer, vocal coach, and seasoned performer. Lincoln studied at Queensland Conservatorium, ANU and Trinity College of Music in London and forged an international singing career spanning opera, musical theatre and cabaret. Highlights have included Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, L'Arlesiana and Rigoletto with Opera Holland Park in London, a US tour of Die Fledermaus, La Traviata in France, a UK tour of The Pirates of Penzance and then La Cenerentola and The Mikado with Opera Australia. He was lead vocalist in a NSW tour of Red Hot and Broadway and onboard the Constellation for Celebrity Cruises. Since moving to the Sunshine Coast in early 2021, Lincoln has starred in Encore at Noosa Arts Theatre and was Musical Director for their production of The Boy From Oz in 2022. He was also Musical Director of Sunshine Coast Choral Society in 2023 and of Cotton Tree Community Choir since the end of last year. He also teamed up with Kim Kirkman two years ago to produce semi-professional musical theatre on the Sunshine Coast. The first Kirkman & Scott production, The Pirates of Penzance, was staged in mid-2024 to great acclaim and that was followed by The Best of Broadway in March 2025. Lincoln also has a busy singing teaching schedule.

Simon Cleary is an award winning writer and a barrister. He is the author of three novels, including The Comfort of Figs (2008), which was published after the manuscript was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. His second novel, Closer to Stone (2012), was inspired by his experiences in North Africa at the commencement of the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. It went on to win the Queensland Literary Awards People’s Choice Award in 2012. Simon’s third novel, The War Artist, was published in 2019.

Simon’s latest work, Everything is Water, considers our complex relationship with nature through flood, drought, time and place and explores the ways rivers connect and our complex relationships with landscapes, ecologies, histories, communities and myth. It is an inspiring pilgrimage that invites us to connect with nature and also to navigate our own path.

Roxanne McCarty-O’Kane

A prolific ghostwriter, author, workshop facilitator, writing mentor and ‘old school’ print journalist, words have been Roxanne’s world as a professional since 2007. Her Ignite & Write trilogy - The Mindful Author, The Structured Author and The Published Author - have become powerful resources for aspiring authors around the world to craft their manuscripts with confidence, clarity and a true sense of purpose and passion.

Multi award winning spoken word poet, Amy Ocean captivates listeners with a powerful authenticity and driven passion.  Her audiences are invited on a journey of emotional amplification and lyrical alliteration - as she uses song and sonnets to encompass her experiences as an emotionally empowered imperfect human. Amy’s awards include:

Finalist 2019 Bunker Spoken Word Competition

Winner “People’s Choice Award” – Bunker Spoken Word Final 2019

Winning Team – Comedy Debate – Solbar Nov 2019

Winner – Liquid Lyrics Poetry Slam Feb 2020

Finalist 2021 Bunker Spoken Word Competition 2021

Runner Up Champion – Bunker Spoken Word Final 2021

Winner – APS Heat North Lakes 2023

Winner – APS QLD State Final 2023

National Finalist 2023 Australian Poetry Slam 

Winner- Rukus Slam Oct 2023 

Winner – APS Heat Sunshine Coast - Aug 2024

QLD State Finalist APS - Oct 2024

Published Poem in Grieve Anthology Vol 11 2024 - Hunter Writers Centre

Runner-up - Liquid Lyrics Grand Final 2024

Sheryl is a writer and drama facilitator providing opportunities for people to tell their stories through poetry and performance. Sheryl has been writing and performing poetry for many years.  With one published collection of poetry – cannibal love, Sheryl is working on her next. She lives in Rainbow Beach and runs creative writing workshops for aspiring writers. Sheryl tries to believe in at least five impossible things before breakfast. 

Spoken Word Poetry is space for free expression and often contains adult content and triggers and is suitable for an 18+year age group.

Discover more about the Eumundi Writers Festival here: https://eumundiwritersfestival.com.au/