UniSlam 2023
News
Six Bath Spa students are competing in the UK National UniSlam 2023
Wednesday, 8 March, 2023Six Bath Spa students, including five from the Creative Writing course, are participating in the UK National UniSlam on 12 March at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
The UniSlam is a poetry festival based around the UK and Ireland National Inter-University Poetry Slam, and is the UK’s largest team poetry slam tournament.
Every year student teams from around the UK compete to be the Uni Slam champion. Bath Spa has a strong track record of achievement at UniSlam, and a team from the University has attended the event every year since 2016. In 2017 BSU made it to the semi-finals and have never failed to be semi-finalists since. In 2018 the team came 2nd overall, in 2021 came 3rd, and in 2022 came 4th. The team has a strong reputation at UniSlam (and therefore also within the academic poetry community at all of the universities in attendance). The Bath Spa team is known for being unexpected, extremely skilled, well-prepared, and professional; as well as being friendly and supportive of their competitors.
Previous students have said that the preparation period and competing in UniSlam helped them understand their craft better, hone their skills, research and analyse other poets, and become critical thinkers within spoken word. UniSlam makes friends for life, and an opportunity to belong to a network of poets who become involved in event management, publishing and spoken word, which means that UniSlam is a great basis for career advancement as well as being an enriching experience.
This year, the team are coached by two Bath Spa Alumni, Kathryn Jeanes (performing as Kathryn O’Driscoll) (Creative Writing BA 2017) and Cal Wensley (Creative Writing MA, 2018). Kathryn has taken responsibility for the team for the past six years, including collecting next of kin information, allergies, access requirements,and ensuring student safety when in another city.
Joe Warne, the team reserve, who is a Film and Screen Studies student, says,"Having the opportunity to represent Bath Spa University on a world stage amongst several exceptionally talented poets is an incredible honour, and given Bath Spa's prior record, one which I hope to be able to live up to."
This year the team will be joined in Birmingham by Professor Lucy English who will be part of a panel discussion on spoken word at UK universities.
Photo shows Emma Taylor, one of the Bath Spa UniSlam team. Picture by Kathryn Jeanes