In collaboration with International Literature Festival Dublin – WeareGriot brings you another night of Ireland’s best Talkatives!

Picture this. A hip-hop cypher meets a poetry slam, a rap battle meets Def Jam Poetry as rappers and poets gather to make art together, off the cuff, extemporaneously creating sound and music as a crowd looks on and generates huge energy.

Competitors will go head-to-head in a classic poetry SLAM style competition – and all slam rules apply. This means no music, no props, no reading from notes, and it must be your own work!

Rappers + Poets will battle it out, round after round, and will be judged based on their style, their content, and their delivery. Two Judges will be present that evening, but the third judge is the audience!

 The Slam winner will leave with a cash prize of €350.

IT’S GONNA BE A MOTIVE; IT’S GONNA BE A VIBE.  

WeAreGriot is a collective of Nigerian-Irish poets and storytellers: FELISPEAKS, Dagogo Hart, and Samuel Yakura. Their goal is to reflect the times we live in through their work, to celebrate culture and community, and to stretch the boundaries of poetry. Griot are oral storytellers, keepers of the histories of communities, preserved and articulated through song, poetry, and dance.

FELISPEAKS is a Nigerian-Irish poet, performer, and playwright from County Longford. She was nominated for “Best Performer” by the Dublin Fringe Festival 2018 for her performance in Boy Child, a play co-written with Dagogo Hart.

Dagogo Hart is a Dublin-based poet, writer, playwright, performer, and spoken word artist. His work has been published in the University College Cork’s Motley and The Moth. In 2017, Hart won the Slam Sunday Grand Slam, qualifying to perform at Electric Picnic with the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Hart was also Africa Day 2018 Champion, serving as host and performer.

Samuel Yakura is a Nigerian-born poet and performing artist living in Ireland. From co-curating the Waterford Speakers Corner as part of Summer in the City, Waterford, to winning the #1 Talkatives Slam Competition in Dublin, Yakura has been a dynamic part of the Irish arts scene. In 2019, he was among the six poets selected for Poetry Ireland’s Versify 2019 in collaboration with Dublin Fringe Festival.