Unislam! Competition and U of G Student Poetry Publications
1st November 2013
It’s been an important week for the poets on our program here at U of G. Firstly, the university’s slam poetry team took part in the inaugural Unislam! competition, hosted by Birmingham University. Angela France, lecturer in Creative Writing, had spent several weeks coaching the team and the students featured in the Gloucestershire Echo in the run up to the slam. Performers included Danie Schlosser, Adam Magee, Nick Short, and Emmy Summers, and the team alternates were Andy Davis and Rosanna Riches. Yohann Okyemba-Ngassaki went along as a supporter. There were strong performances all around by the U of G team, who were in a tough heat against competition that included the host university. Despite the quality of their poems, the UoG team missed out on qualifying from their ‘group of death’, but as the judges said on the day: it’s about the poetry, not the points, and the University of Gloucestershire team put in a good showing and did themselves proud.
Secondly, three 3rd year students from our course have had their poems selected to be published on Peony Moon, a poetry blog run by Michelle Mcgrane. Next week the blog will be running a project entitled ‘Against Rape,’ and work by Caitlin Clarke, Camellia Cressey, Emmy Summers will feature alongside poetry by U of G alumni Sally Clark. Congratulations to all – and we’ll provide links and updates when their poems start appearing on the website.