THE 2025 NEW YEAR WILL OPEN WITH POETRY SLAM FESTIVAL

The event comes in the wake of 2024 GenZ protests, a corrupt government and harrowing economic turmoil brought in by the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

After the lockdown under the corona pandemic, the organizers of slam festival went into a short hiatus to regroup before coming back with slam poetry competition in 2024. Slam Poetry, for over a decade now, had become part of annual Kenya’s entertainment calendar. This year, slam picked up from where it left in 2021 to bring back its annual calendar of three preliminaries and a grand slam festival in January 2025. 

Speaking to Ian Gwagi, one of the organizers, the event had not sparked enthusiasm as it has been before. However, there is hope that the event will revive its lost glory and become what it has been- Kenya’s premier poetry competition and entertainment show. Ian Gwagi hopes to introduce new concepts in the show especially during the grand slam which crowns new slam Kings and queens. Lovers of poetry and those in academia will be treated to newer concept as this next phase of slam poetry progress through its second decade. Ian did not discuss the finer details but we hope to be treated to surprise display and uniquely curated poetry performances. 

Poetry Slam Africa was first performed in Kenya in 2008 at the Das Ethiopian Restaurant in Westlands, Nairobi. This saw Timothy Mwaura crowned the first slam King and before the slam break occasioned by the effects of the COVID19 pandemic, Slim Shaka would be crowned the 65th slam King in early 2021. Through the years, slam poetry has undergone several changes in order to embrace the growing need for youth expression and provide a platform for the growth of poetry and performance art in Kenya. 

Some of the most significant milestones are: the introduction of annual slam King Competition as opposed to the previous 3 months period. This shaped the performance poetry scene in the country and gave the slam event credibility among performers and audience as well. The organizers also introduced a school based programme which was off to a good start but is yet to be fully embraced by the Kenyan schools. 

In 2016, there was an increased number of women performers that the organizers introduced a women’s only slam competition which pitted incredible performers like Qui Qarre, Shingai, Socratess and Mumbi Macharia. Qui Qarre emerged the winner and was slated to represent Kenya at The Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS) in the USA. Apart from Women slam, the event morphed into a three day event christened slam festival. The aim of the festival is to celebrate art and also crown new slam winners in the country. 

The 2024/25 slam festival will be held on the 23rd to the 26th of January at the Braeburn Theatre along Gitanga Road in Nairobi. Tickets to the festival can be purchased here: https://mookh.com/store/event/poetry-slam-africa