Poetry Slam Cyprus, 2022  

Monday and Tuesday, 14 and 15 March 2022  

ARTos House, Nicosia – Cyprus, arrival: 19.30 – start: 20.00  

  

Six slammers have been invited from abroad, and will compete on Tuesday with the best six from Cyprus that will have been selected from the competition on the day before; Monday.  

They are:  

Katharina Wenty - Austria;  

Adriana Bertran – Spain;  

Natalya O’ Flaherty – Ireland;  

Maria Kouimtsidi – Greece;  

Matic Ačko – Slovenia  

  

For the Cyprus based slammers, Ideogramma issued an Open Call, which invites all slammers that live on the island, irrespective of where, which ethnicity or the language that they slam in.  

If applicable, translations in English and or Greek may accompany the performance, projected on a screen and they are:  

Maria Kouvarou; Stavros Khachatryan; Adonis Sergiou; Efi Kalorkoti; Kyriaki Ttanti; Kathleen Ruddy; Reem Maghribi; Andros Zacharia; Demetriana Ioannidou; Toria Maugain; Michael-Angelos Englezos; Stavros X. Petrou; Grace Kanaki; Leni Christou; Gaia Zaccagni; Melissa Zanga; Katerina Constantinou; Ilias Tsogas  

  

Additionally, Ideogramma, the organisers, have invited two exceptional slammers as Guest slammers, who will perform on both evenings, out of competition of course; the renowned poet slammer, performer Sergio Garau from Italy and the twice in a row winner of the National Slam Championship in 2019 and 2021 Argyris Loizou.  

  

The 5-member jury that will decide the winners are:  

Ahmet Yikik – academic, literary critic, translator  

Anthi Antoniadou – actress-performer, archaeologist, cultural activist, poet  

Catherine Louis Nikita – cultural management, curator, art consultant  

Constantinos Papageorgiou – poet, psychotherapist, adult educator  

Lia Lapithi – visual artist  

  

James Mackay, academician, poet, performer, slammer will be the Master of Ceremonies  

  

The 5th Poetry Slam Cyprus 2021 competition consists of two parts:  

  

Day One - MONDAY  

The poet-slammers that responded to the Open Call will compete in one round, the results of which are the following:  

  

A. The 2022 Cyprus National Slam Champion is declared, who in turn will represent Cyprus in various European and other international / world competitions  

  

B. Two others will take second and third place, and  

  

C. The six with the highest points will compete together with the slammers from abroad (6), the following day; Tuesday  

  

Day Two – TUESDAY  

The six finalists from Monday will join the six invited poet–slammers to compete in two (2) rounds:  

  

A. In Round A, six will be selected to go to Round Two  

  

B. In Round Two  

  

a. The 2022 Poetry Slam Cyprus Champion will be declared  

  

b. Two others will take the second and third place  

  

The 2 winners from Monday’s and Tuesday’s competitions will receive a prize of €100 each.  

  

The Popular Vote, an online voting system, will allow the live audience, to vote their favourite slammer (one on each evening)  

  

Last year’s 4th Poetry Slam Competition due to all covid restrictions was held online with … some awesome results!  

  

32,023 people reached (unique)  

  

3,028 views (of the live event)  

  

Filip Koryta of the Czech Republic was the declared winner, while  

  

Argyris Loizou was declared for the second year running as the Cyprus National Champion, and who represented Cyprus in the 2021 EU Poetry Slam Competition last December in Brussels finishing 7th, which ensured him a place in the 2022 World Championship that will take place this September  

  

Shreya Aneja from India won the popular vote in Round One, and has been invited to compete in this year’s competition  

  

Sofia Kaniklidou from Cyprus won the Popular Vote in Round Two  

  

On the Sunday, before the competition all guests from abroad together with the jury and other invited guests (slammers, friends, etc) will meet in an informal setting, in the oldest bookshop on the island, situated in the occupied section of Nicosia, for readings and performances.  

  

This will be an opportunity to meet each other.  

  

Poetry Slam is a poetry competition, in which participants read their original work, dramatising the reading at the same time.  

  

Each poet-slammer has a maximum of 3 minutes to ‘slam’ in front of a 5member jury and the public.  

  

It challenges and invites all poetic voices, different traditions, genres and approaches.  

  

The poet presents them in such a way that the audience feels what the poem is about; political, erotic, social, etc.  

  

These performances break down the barriers between the poet-slammer, the judges and the audience, letting the words go free.  

  

05 March 2022  

  

Nora Hadjisotiriou, Email: nora@ideogramma-cy.com Tel: 00357 99678132  

  

https://www.facebook.com/poetryslamcyprus  

https://www.facebook.com/IdeogrammaCyprus  

  

SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES AND PHOTOS  

  

Argyris Loizou - Cyprus  

Argyris is the co-founder of Πε'Τα!  

The Cyprus National Poetry Slam Champion in 2019 and 2021  

  

Placed 7th in the 2021 European Poetry Slam  

  

Sergio Garau – Italy  

Sergio Garau (Sardinia, Italy, 1982) since 2001 he’s been writing and performing poetry and spoken word in 21 countries across Europe, Africa, North and South America.  

  

He´s been editing books (Poetry Collection: Maledizioni) and literary reviews (Atti Impuri), translating poems, leading workshops, hosting shows, winning various international poetry slams, videopoetry and literature festival prizes (CROSSaward).  

  

He is part of the writers’ collective sparajurij and has been published on paper, on record, online (digitally) and, mostly, on stage.  

  

He was director of the 2019 European Slam Championship and president of LIPS - Lega Italiana Poetry Slam.