Imagine it's just you and your words for two minutes with a mic in the spotlight.
Orange City Library is calling all poets, hip-hop artists and other outspoken wordsmiths to polish their rhymes and lyrics for the Australian Poetry Slam on Thursday 22 July – at 6pm for poets to sign up and from 6.30pm to perform. Host Tug Dumbly (pictured), one of Australia's greatest spoken-word artists, will host this electric live event. An initiative of the non-profit literary arts association, Word Travels and State Libraries, the Australian Poetry Slam is the nation's largest and richest poetry slam with cash and a gig at Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali up for grabs. All contestants have just two minutes to impress the judges (selected at random at each heat) with their spoken word, poetry, hip hop, monologues and stories. We need people to get up and have a go and for others to be in the audience – so come along for a fun night out.