Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe will be hosting a Poetry Slam this weekend in Harare under the theme “Building better cities, Building Better citizens”.
The Harare edition of the poetry slam is in partnership with LitFest, an organization that runs an annual international literature festival and is headed by one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated poets, Chirikure Chirikure.
A public call for participation was issued six weeks ago and over eighty poets sent their pitch videos for the preliminary shortlisting.
A panel of adjudicators selected the top 20 poets who are set to contest in Harare on the 23rd of June 2018.
The contestants will battle it out in three rounds of live performances, after which the top three poets will emerge.
The best poet will walk away with a cash prize of $800, while the second runner-up will get $400 and the third will be awarded $200.
The Prize money comes with specially crafted animal horn trophies which resemble the role of a poet as a bearer of important messages in society.
In traditional African communication culture, the horn is a communication gadget used to broadcast important information such as a call for an important village meeting or announcing that there has been a death in the community.
In addition, the ten finalists will also get token prizes in form of books.
The Lafarge Poetry Slam is an initiative that is aimed at providing a platform for thought-provoking poetry about key subjects relating to the Zimbabwean society.
The expectation is to build positivity and inspire solutions to societal issues. This particular poetry slam theme, “Building better cities, Building better citizens”, is a call for poets to consider positive and socially constructive messages in their poetry.
It is anticipated that these poets will focus on the growth possibilities in our nation and in our people.
The Lafarge Poetry Slam is also Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe’s avenue for supporting the Literary Arts sector in Zimbabwe.
The Arts sector thrives on the support of stakeholders who provide platforms for exposure and performance to refine their art.
A poetry slam is a tournament in which poets compete in live performances of original works. Each poet has to perform in a limited length of time. There will be a panel of judges that will be adjudicating in the process.
After each round, the contestants with the highest points proceed to the next phase, until the top three poets eventually emerge.
Besides being competitive, a slam is also fun and highly entertaining as the poets are not allowed to use any props, but have to depend on their creativity and performance skills.
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