Slam poets from around Iowa are invited to participate in a special slam on Sept. 3 that will pick Iowa City’s entrant for an international slam competition.
Slamovision is a project of the international UNESCO Cities of Literature. Slam poets in 23 of the 63 Cities of Literature around the world will compete in their home cities. One poet from each participating city will move on to an international competition to be judged by fans from the other cities. At the end of the process, one poet will be named the Slamovision champion for 2026.
Because Iowa’s Henry Morray won the 2025 international title, Iowa City will host the 2026 final event on Nov. 1 at the James Theater. That event will be livestreamed around the world. Before that can happen, each participating city will hold its own competition to select a poet to participate in the final.
The Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature, Iowa City Poetry and Mic Check will co-host Iowa City’s qualifying slam poetry event at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3 at Close House, 538 S. Gilbert St. Poets from across Iowa may participate. Sign-up begins at 6 p.m., the slam begins at 6:30 p.m. Each poet has three minutes to perform. At the completion of three rounds, the winning poet will be chosen to represent Iowa City in the international competition.
A video of the winning poet from the Sept. 3 event will be entered into the contest. Iowa City poets and poetry lovers will convene during the Iowa City Book Festival, to watch and rank the poets from the other participating cities. This same process will happen in the other Cities of Literature. That judging event will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Meeting Room A of the Iowa City Public Library. The scores will be tabulated and an international Slamovision poet will be crowned during an event at 2 p.m. on Nov. 1 at the James Theater in Iowa City.
Participating Cities of Literature are Angoulême, France; Bremen, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; Exeter, UK; Gdansk, Poland; Gothenburg, Sweden; Heidelberg, Germany; Hobart, Australia; Iowa City; Kozhikode, India; Krakow, Poland; Kutaisi, Georgia; Lyon, France; Manchester, UK; Nottingham, UK; Odesa, Ukraine; Quebec City, Canada; Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Taif, Saudi Arabia; Tartu, Estonia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Wroclaw, Poland.
