Youth literary genius on display twice this week in Ann Arbor
I am always boasting about Ann Arbor's youth literary culture. This week provides two fantastic opportunities for people to experience it firsthand. Two very different events are happening in which local teen writers will take turns before a microphone and, one after another, speak the most extraordinary things.
Tonight -- Thursday, March 25 -- the spectacular Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam Finals will take place starting at 7 p.m. at the Neutral Zone (310 E. Washington St.). If you haven't been to a poetry slam, it is a competitive event. In round one, each poet will perform one original poem, and each performance will be scored by a panel of judges. The top-scoring dozen or so poets from round one will perform a second poem, with the six highest-scoring poets after round two forming a team that will compete at the Brave New Voices 2010 International Youth Poetry Slam in Los Angeles this July.
What you must understand is that the quality of competition at the Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam is, in some respects, higher than the quality of competition at the International Youth Poetry Slam. Only six poets can make the team, which means many more incredible poets will not. But they will all drop your jaw, over and over. If there is ever an event that you don't want to miss, this is it.
The cost is $5 for students and $7 for everyone else. Arrive by 6:45 p.m. if you want a seat.
Tomorrow -- Friday, March 27 -- teens from the Neutral Zone's Short Story Workshop will be reading new stories on the theme of "Impostors" at the Downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. The reading is free, and will take place in the multi-purpose room at 7 p.m. This event is lower-key and lower-profile than the Poetry Slam, certainly. And the work is of a different character, often more focused on world-building than soul-baring. The writers are imaginative and talented and will take you to interesting places. Several of them are featured in last year's well-received Neutral Zone anthology The Lizards Are Crawling Back Through Your Window.
I'm really excited to hear new poems tonight, new stories tomorrow, and I know if you come to either event you won't leave disappointed.
Scott Beal is a stay-at-home dad who works regularly with both poets and fiction writers at the Neutral Zone.
Comments
Scott Beal
Fri, Mar 26, 2010 : 7:41 a.m.
Thanks for the informed reply, Fiona.
FLC
Thu, Mar 25, 2010 : 2:21 p.m.
I believe one city can't send an "A and B" team per se. In some larger cities like Chicago, there are two teams, but it's a little different. One team forms at a given school or organization, stays together and slams as a team in a citywide slam, and goes to BNV as a whole unit if it wins.(If Ann Arbor's slam were organized this way, Pioneer, Huron, Skyline, Community etc would create teams, which would then compete and one would go to BNV.) The other team is decided by individuals slamming against each other without regard to school/organization, a kind of "All-Star" type deal. Ann Arbor's slam is organized as a mix of the two: individuals compete in quarterfinals against other students from their own schools, and a final All-Star type team is assembled at the finals, where the top poets from each school compete individually against one another. This creates a team with members from all of Ann Arbor's different schools and is partly designed, I think, to help cohere Ann Arbor's own slam community. It's likely that A2 isn't large enough to justify sending another team, but the Neutral Zone has sent alternates, coaches and entourage-type people in the past, and there are workshops and competitions for them at BNV too. Funding this year, however, is tight enough that if I have my facts right, just the team kids and one coach are covered. Anybody who knows of a funding source to expand that, PLEASE let the Neutral Zone know. It would rock.
Scott Beal
Thu, Mar 25, 2010 : 11:59 a.m.
That's an interesting question, and I don't know the answer (I would need to check the BNV guidelines). Do you know of a source of funding that could make this feasible? If so, I would definitely love to hear about it. Even sending the one team to LA is expensive, and like all non-profits these days, the Neutral Zone is operating on a tight budget...
Wolverine3660
Thu, Mar 25, 2010 : 10:44 a.m.
Scott- could you all send both an A team, and a B Team if funding were available, so that more youth poets would get the opportunity to participate in LA?