The First Hobart Poetry Cup

Sixty seconds. One poem. What will you say?

For more than four decades, the Launceston Poetry Cup has been one of Tasmania’s great poetry traditions, a gloriously unpredictable annual contest where poets have just 60 seconds to win over a live audience.

Now, after 42 years in Launceston, the Poetry Cup is heading south for the very first Hobart Poetry Cup.

And be warned: this is not just another poetry slam.

The Poetry Cup has always been a little more irreverent, a little more ridiculous and a lot less concerned with being cool. You don't need to deliver the most profound poem in the room. You don't need to be terribly serious. You don't even necessarily need to be a "poet".

Funny is good. Cheeky is good. Clever, strange, heartfelt, outrageous, absurd or completely unexpected. Go for the laugh. Go for the gasp. Go for glory.

How do you win? The crowd decides. The biggest audience response wins the Cup.

Come to perform, cheer, or heckle* and make some noise, or grab a drink and watch a roomful of people attempt to win eternal poetic glory in sixty seconds.

Thursday 22 October | 7 pm til late

Grinners Bar, Hobart

Tickets $15**

One minute per performer

The Hobart Poetry Cup is presented by the Tasmanian Poetry Festival, with the support of Fullers Bookshop.

Poets, non-poets, closet poets and people who have never willingly attended a poetry event before are all very welcome.

*Good-natured heckling only. We're poets, not monsters.

** Any revenue from ticket sales will go back into Hobart’s poetry community, supporting Silver Words and Poetica Collective and the fantastic local open mic events they run.