Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, Spork! Poetry and Taking the Mic present the 4th annual City Slam; an exciting competition to find the best spoken-word artist in Exeter (and across Devon).

12 poets will battle it out across 3 rounds of fierce but friendly competition. With feature sets from 2 incredible performance poets: former World Slam Champion Kat Francois, and award-winning Maria Ferguson.

The winner of the City Slam will be entered into Slamovision 2026, as well as receiving a cash prize of £150. Sign up details below!

Kat Francois was the first person to win a televised poetry slam in the UK, and a year later won the World Slam Championships. She’s an Educator, Poetry & Drama Performance Artist & Teacher, Playwright and Fitness Instructor.

As a playwright, Kat has written and performed acclaimed shows including Raising Lazarus, dealing with the experiences of Caribbean soldiers in WW1. She’s appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Saturday Live and Woman’s Hour, Radio 5 Live, Sky and BBC television. Kat also runs Onyx, a poetry and theatre performance group with young people, and provides youth and adult coaching in creative writing and performance, as well as Life Coaching through the creative process.

Maria Ferguson is a writer and performer, a finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024 and her debut collection, Alright, Girl? (Burning Eye, 2020), was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes.

On the stage, her one-woman show Fat Girls Don’t Dance (Oberon, 2017) won the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show; Essex Girl (Oberon, 2019) was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award and won Show of the Week at VAULT Festival.

She has been commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts, and BBC Radio. Her work has been featured in The Guardian and on Radio 4’s The Verb and Woman’s Hour. She is the Associate Producer of LIVEwire Poetry and teaches creative writing in a variety of settings. Her second poetry collection, Swell was published in 2025 by Penguin Random House.

Sign up to Slam!
To enter the slam, you need to register an interest by 5pm, Tue 31 Mar. The 12 Slammers will be chosen at random (if there are an excess of applicants) and announced by Fri 03 Apr. To register, just send an email to Tim on slam@speakinsong.co.uk with your name, age, and where you’re based. Slammers must be aged 16+ and based in Devon.

The Rules
After registering, you’ll receive a full list of rules. But, in short, all slammers must prepare 3 poems / pieces for the 3 rounds. These pieces must not exceed 3 mins in length, and slammers may get penalised for going over (this includes any introductions.) The performances will be scored by a panel of judges, who will mark on writing, delivery, and the audience response. For any questions about the competition, email Chris on sporkpoetry@gmail.com.

Additional information

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes (including interval)

Age guidance: 12+

Venue: Auditorium, Exeter Phoenix

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>