Nordic Slam Poetry Night for Youth

Helsinki Poetry Connection offers a unique opportunity to see Poetry Slam masters from Nordic countries. As connected to Nordic Slam championships, at Friday 15th of September, there will be an event for Youth at Oranssi (Kaasutehtaankatu 1).

Champions from four countries will perform with Icelandic DJ Beatur, who will create background sound for poems. It can be anything from apocalyptic circus music to summery forest sounds.

Poetry Slam champions are Lasse Nyholm Jensen from Denmark, Marija Bliznac from Norway, Olle Sundström from Sweden and Jarkko Jokinen from Finland.  There will be surprise poets performing with Poetry Slam champions. The event will be hosted by Juho Kuusi, who has won Finland’s Poetry Slam not once, but twice.

English translations of all poems will be screened to the background, so you don’t miss anything if you don’t understand the language.

We adhere to safer space guidelines, and we expect our audience to do same. Please note that the event is alcohol-free. Read more about safer space guidelines at our website: https://www.helsinkipoetryconnection.fi/en/about-us/safer-space-guidelines-of-hpc/

Oranssi is accessible except some doors with 3 cm doorsteps, but there is step-free access to the venue. One of the toilets is accessible and all are gender-neutral. Don’t hesitate to contact us for further info.

Producers: Juho Kuusi, Samppa Varis ja Elina Ortamo
Visual layout: Anna Nuutinen
Helsinki Poetry Connection with Finnish Cultural Foundation

The event is free, you are warmly welcome!

Nordic Slam Championships

Helsinki Poetry Connection hosts The Nordic Slam Championships in Helsinki, at Tiivistämö on Saturday 16th of September at 7 p.m. – welcome! Event is free. 

First time in Finland, there will be an international Poetry Slam Championship. Champions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland will challenge each other!

Nordic Slam has been organized since 2016, most recently 2022 at Lillehammer, Norway. In 2019, Grumpy Bitch (Nihkee Akka) aka Jonna Nummela won first place. Now it is Finland’s turn to host the event. Come to observe the versatility of the Nordic poetry scene and see who will win the championship this time! A rare opportunity indeed! 

There are some differences in rules as opposed to other international championships. There are three rounds during which every participant will perform. At the end all the points from the 3 rounds will be added together. The winner will be the one with the highest score. All poems will be translated into English and screened to the background.

At the moment we are looking for five judges. You don’t need to understand the Nordic languages – you just need to be a friend of poetry! Sign up to Juho Kuusi via email: juhokuusi@hotmail.com

There will be competitors from all the Nordic countries except Iceland, as there is currently no active Icelandic Poetry Slam culture. Icelandic beatboxer and DJ Beatur will kick off the evening. Our hosts are poets Harri Hertell and Rosanna Fellman.

The event will be streamed and photographed. We adhere to safer space guidelines which can be read at our website: https://www.helsinkipoetryconnection.fi/en/about-us/safer-space-guidelines-of-hpc/

You can watch livestream here or at Youtube.

Day before the event, on Friday 15th of September there will be an event for Youth at Oranssi (Kaasutehtaankatu 1). 

Producers: Juho Kuusi, Samppa Varis ja Elina Ortamo

Visual layout: Anna Nuutinen

Helsinki Poetry Connection with Finnish Cultural Foundation

Almost all of the spaces in Tiivistämö are accessible, with the exception of the downstairs. The event will be upstairs, where there is an accessible toilet. Read more at Tiivistämö’s site:

https://tiivistamo.fi/en/what-is-tiivistamo/accessibility