Guyana now has an annual National Poetry Slam. This represents not only an entertaining event, but an important development of a popular performance form and a significant recognition of this form as a further addition to national literature. Every year there is a competition for all performance poets, especially those involved in the genre known as Spoken Word poetry, and this competition now also includes hip-hop, which has become increasingly popular and accordingly, more relevant because of the competition.
In this National Poetry Slam, all performance poets, spoken word poets and hip-hop artistes are invited to compete for a prize in a competition held at the 704 Club. These contestants are largely known, as they perform on a regular basis at several and various shows, concerts and dramatic events throughout the year. In this competition, they are invited to perform in the same styles and to the same audiences to which they are accustomed. But there is an important difference.
