Heilbronn Poetry Slam

At a poetry slam, self-written poetry is performed on stage in a competitive setting. The audience serves as the jury and decides the slam poets’ success or failure through their applause. For many years, the Maschinenfabrik Cultural Center—formerly known as Popbüro Heilbronn-Franken—has organized the HEILBRONN POETRY SLAM. At a poetry slam (literally: a poets’ competition or battle), self-written poetry is performed on stage in a competitive setting (slam). The audience serves as the jury and decides, for example, through applause, on the victory or defeat of the slam poets. The texts are sometimes lyrical and sometimes humorous, sometimes rhymed and sometimes rapped, sometimes critical and sometimes Dadaist. The audience is a diverse mix—from teenagers to retirees, poetry slams captivate a wide range of people. The event format originated in Chicago in 1986 and spread worldwide in the 1990s. The German-language slam scene is considered the second largest in the world after the English-language one.