Celebrating Sydney’s Many Languages
| Bengali, Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, French… |
| What languages do you speak? Where do you come from? Diverse languages contribute to a rich Australian cultural landscape but some feel marginalised by their mother tongue.
Word Travels is working with City of Sydney to present the annual creative community forum called the Multilingual Poetry Slam for Harmony Day and World Poetry Day. Language cuts straight to the core of culture. Walking through Sydney neighbourhoods you immerse yourself in the hundreds of languages simmering beneath the surface. Anyone can perform in a poetry slam and audiences pick their favourite presenters. The format works particularly well for giving a platform to more marginalised areas of the community such as regional Australia, young people, culturally diverse people and others who may feel voice-less. “Slams bring community members together to share creative ideas.” says Word Travels’ Creative Director, Miles Merrill. “SLAM, to me is like an acronym for Stories, Lyrics, And Monologues combined with poetry.” ABC RN presenter, Sunil Badami will act as host of Multilingual Poetry Slam. The event will also feature a performance by Hani Aden, a Somali poet recently released from Christmas Island and up to 12 multilingual poets will get 3 minutes each to electrify the mic with their own words. Word Travels is a literary and literacy non-profit best known for introducing the ‘poetry slam’ concept to Australia and running the Australian Poetry Slam internationally; including events in Indonesia and China. Many slam participants rarely see their own perspectives in mainstream entertainment. They feel both a sense of empowerment at being able to express themselves publicly, and a sense of responsibility for getting their own stories out to an audience. The result is an exciting experience for performing writers and live audiences. Celebrating the many languages of Sydney, participants are invited to register to perform as part of the event. Anyone is welcome to perform poetry, share stories, croon lyrics, or just shout creative ideas about identity, culture and community in any language! Group performances and original writing in all languages is encouraged. The event is $10 (free for performers) but performers and audience must register:www.wordtravels.info Details: Barnet Long Room, Customs House 31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay |
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