Thirty-two poets from as far afield as Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland will descend on Nimbin this weekend for the 23rd Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup, with heats kicking off at the Nimbin School of Arts from 9.30 am on Saturday, 5 September.
The event, now in its third decade, began 24 years ago when Gail M Clarke started the Cup with a $5000 donation from Robin Archbold, along with contributions from the Nimbin community. It has been entirely community-funded and volunteer-run ever since.
Vincent Stead, who helps organise the event, said his own involvement began after Gail invited him to share poetry at the monthly Nimbin Poetry Night.
“Gail invited me to come share poetry at the monthly Nimbin Poetry Night, which led to me helping move chairs at my first Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup, and becoming the ‘Chairman’ of the event,” Mr Stead said.
He later competed as a poet himself, and now organises poets, monitors the event’s Facebook and YouTube channels, and helps wherever needed.
Pulling off the two-day event takes a large team effort, Mr Stead said. “Networking with other poetry events to find 32 poets, 13 judges and reserves for both. Posters, fliers, radio, media releases and word of mouth to promote event,” he said, adding that the weekend also relies on catering, sound and lighting technicians, an MC, timekeeper, front desk volunteers and what he called “infinite patience”.
This year’s line-up spans generations and styles.
“This year we have rappers, bush, prose, rhyming, activist, feminist, slam and comedy poets aged from 20 to 80 years old,” Mr Stead said.
The field includes six previous winners, former People’s Choice Award recipients and a number of new and emerging poets. For the first time, poets from Western Australia will be competing.
Each poet performs eight minutes of original poetry, judged on the writing itself, performance, audience reaction and timing, with different judges assigned to each heat, the semi-finals and the final to keep scoring fresh.
“The poetry is judged on writing and how well words flow,” Mr Stead said. “Audience reaction is how engaged an audience is with the poet and their reaction at the end.”
Sixteen poets will progress to the semi-finals from 11.30 am on Sunday, 6 September, before the field is cut to eight for the final that evening, where poets compete for a share of the $5000 prize pool, including $2000 and the Cup for first place.
Entry to the heats and semi-finals is by gold coin donation, with tickets to the final $10 to $15 at the door.
Mr Stead encouraged newcomers not to skip the heats in favour of the final alone.
“There are poets who get knocked out on the heats and semifinals who may be the best poetry you will ever hear and the memorable performance you will ever see, so don’t miss them,” he said. “It is also better value, 32 poets for a gold coin or 8 poets for $15 lol.”
He described the atmosphere across the weekend as one of “friendly community and poetic camaraderie, with moments of tense excitement.”
More details are available on the Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup Facebook page.
“Come on September 5th and 6th to experience the unique people and world-class poetry at the 23rd Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup, create memories that will stay with you forever and bring you back next year,” Mr Stead said.
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