Poetry Jam EN – Helsinki Poetry Connection

Poetry Jam – TWILIGHT

06. 11. 2025

Things are about to get obscure when Poetry Jam arrives at Pacifico x Tenho on Saturday, November 22, starting at 6 p.m. The restaurant is located on Helsinginkatu in Kallio.

The guest performers of the event are Veera Ojola, Aura Nurmi and Sir Liselot. During the evening performers selected through an open call will also be heard.

Do you have a poem, song, speech or performance that fits the theme TWILIGHT – or sheds new light on it? The open mic call is now live! Apply by 18 November to hpc.openmic@gmail.com. In your message, briefly describe yourself and the content and length of your performance. Four performers will be selected for 5-10 minutes on stage.

The event will be hosted by Vinski Valos and Sonja Kaisanlahti from Helsinki Poetry Connection, produced in collaboration with Nuoren Voiman Liitto. The event is supported by the City of Helsinki.

Poetry Jam follows the principles of a safer space, which you can find here . Unfortunately, the venue is not accessible.

Free entry!

Graphics: Vinski Valos

Poetry Jam – The Party

30. 06. 202515. 07. 2025

“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to…” -Leslie Gore-
—but maybe also laugh until bubbles rise to the ceiling and the words find their way to the dance floor.

Helsinki Poetry Connection’s August Poetry Jam invites you to a party—one that’s already over or just about to begin, one that’s wild, longed-for, unforgettable, or bitter to the bone. This year, in the spirit of Runokuu, we celebrate the power of words in a way that could never fit on a napkin corner. It demands the whole stage—and those dusty stage curtains too.

“It’s crazy, it’s party” -Käärijä-

Our invited performers include Ester Nuori Leppä, Alba Ala-Pietilä and Mari-Liis Müürsepp. These are some original voices you don´t wanna miss.

The program kicks off at 19:30. Parvisali is located on the 6th floor of Tekstin Talo—not too high up, but just high enough for the party to spiral out of control – or stay confined.

✨ Do you have a poem, song, or spoken word performance that fits the theme The Party—or maybe turns it completely on its head? The open mic call is now live! ✨
Apply by 14 August at hpc.openmic@gmail.com. Tell us briefly about yourself and your performance idea. We’ll select 4–5 performers, each with 5–10 minutes on stage.

Poetry Jams follow safer space principles, which you can read here

Accessibility information for Tekstin Talo can be found on their website: https://tekstintalo.fi/accessibility

The event is produced and hosted by Aika Huusko and Sonja Kaisanlahti from Helsinki Poetry Connection, in collaboration with Nuoren Voiman Liitto. Supported by the City of Helsinki.

Free entry!

Poetry Jam – Arrangement

27. 04. 2025

Arranging threads, plans in time,
fitting a movement into meaning,
a poem into the swell of sound:
words arranged
to meet the moment and its music.

Helsinki Poetry Connection warmly invites you to Bar Tÿpo in Tekstin Talo on Thursday, May 15, 2025.

Poetry Jam: Arrangement is a poetry club that brings together spoken word, rap and music.

From 6 PM, we’ll be arranging ourselves into the space. The program starts at 7 PM.

The evening’s performers are: stage poet Juho Kuusi, spoken word duo Harmio & Saarinen, singer-songwriter and lyricist Emilia Tuovila, and our open mic poets. The evening will be hosted by Anni Katajapuu and Vinski Valos.

Do you have a poem, song, performance or rap piece that fits—or could be fitted—to the evening’s theme? After the featured performers, the microphone will open to 4–5 selected open mic’ers. Each performer will have 5–10 minutes on stage. Apply by emailing hpc.openmic@gmail.com by May 9, 2025. In your message, tell us about yourself, your performance, and its length.

Helsinki Poetry Connection’s events follow safer space principles, which you can read about on our website here.

Accessibility information for Tekstin Talo is available on their website.

This event is produced by Helsinki Poetry Connection and Nuoren Voiman Liitto, and supported by the city of Helsinki.

Graphic design: Emma Johansson

Poetry Jam – Test

21. 11. 202421. 11. 2024

Poetry Jam: 14.12.: at 7PM-10PM: Parvisali, Tekstin talo.

Theme: test.

We’re living in a strangely rational time: everything has to be calculated and proven, whatever it takes.

Poetry tests and measures the possibilities of language. Poetry performance tests and measures the possibilities of poetry. Can a test be playful, a hoax, a patchwork?

Come to experience, test, try out, measure with us!

The program starts at 7PM in the Parvisali on the sixth floor of Tekstin talo.

Performers of the evening are:

Ira Wuolle

Sini Silveri

Pipsa Enqvist

After the invited guests, there will be 4-5 curated open mic performers. Each performer gets 5-10 minutes. Do you have test-themed texts? Would you be interested in performing? Sign up at hpc.openmic@gmail.com by December 8th, 2024. Share something about your performance and its duration and yourself.

Poetry Jams adhere to safer space principles, which can be read here.

Accessibility information for Tekstin Talo is available here.

The event is produced by Helsinki Poetry Connection and Nuoren Voiman Liitto.

Graphics: Siiri Rajalin

Poetry Jam – Emptiness

27. 09. 202403. 10. 2024

Poetry Jam is back! On Saturday, October 19th, at Tekstin Talo the theme is emptiness.

Emptiness can signify free time, a state of mind, a sense of space, and much more. It can also be approached not merely as absence but as a space filled with potential. This time, we won’t flee from emptiness; instead, we will explore what it might encompass: time, timelessness, darkness, light, absence, or creative power. What does your emptiness consist of?

How does a full evening of people blend with the theme of emptiness? Come and experience it with fellow poetry enthusiasts!

The program starts at 6 PM in the Permantosali on the first floor.

Performers of the evening are:

Collin Ngiesi

Oteanankanduro

Ellala & Parviainen with their performance “Tässä olisit”

After the invited guests, there will be four curated open mic performers. Each performer gets 10-15 minutes, which they can use fully or emptily. Do you have emptiness-themed texts? Would you be interested in performing? Sign up at hpc.openmic@gmail.com by October 11th, 2024, sharing something about your performance and yourself.

Poetry Jams adhere to safer space principles, which can be found on our website.

Accessibility information for Tekstin Talo is available on their website.

The event is produced by Helsinki Poetry Connection and Nuoren Voiman Liitto.

Event: Poetry Jam – Emptiness

Runokuu’s Poetry Jam

15. 07. 2024

You are warmly welcome to Runokuu’s Poetry Jam club on friday, 23 August at 7 pm at Tekstin talo!

The evening will be warmed by our wonderful performers Lauri Hei, Elsa Tölli ja Nihkee.

After the performances there will be Open Mic segment, and 5 poets will be chosen in advance. If you would like to be one of them, apply through hpc.openmic(at)gmail.com On the subject field write “Poetry Jam Open Mic”. Please note that the open mic slots are max 5 minutes long.

The producers and presenters of the evening are Sonja Kaisanlahti and Elina Ortamo. The event is organized in cooperation with literature association Nuoren Voiman Liitto.

Free entry!

Poetry Jam is free from any discrimination. We don’t accept any racist or hateful content or behaviour. Our event adheres to Safer Space Guidelines as found on HPC’s website: https://www.helsinkipoetryconnection.fi/en/about-us/safer-space-guidelines-of-hpc/

https://runokuu.fi/

Poetry Jam – Crisis

07. 12. 2023

Poetry Jam will be held 20.12.2023 at 6 p.m to 9 p.m, at Tenho Restobar (Helsinginkatu 15). This time the theme is Crisis.

We live in a time full of crises. Sometimes a crisis aptly describes what is happening, sometimes it’s just a crisis. Smaller conflicts, heartaches, frustrations and existential angst simmer alongside big crises, but do we have room to deal with personal crises if the world around us is gasping for breath? And how do we get through crises, and what does it take to get through them?

Theme of this time, crisis, breaks down the many meanings of a word that has been tangled up in many messes, bringing it back to the street level (even though Tenho is located on the second floor), to emotions and lived life. Come and experience the power of poetry!

The program starts at 6 p.m.

The evening’s performers:

Ansa Kurola

Olli Heikkonen

Aura Nurmi

Joonas Sojakka

After the performers, there will be an Open mic session, where 4-5 performers will be selected in a curated manner. About 5 minutes are reserved for each performer. Register at (hpc.openmic@gmail.com) by 17.12. Please tell us something about your presentation: it can be related to the theme, but it is not necessary.

Poetry Jams follow the principles of a safer space, which you can read here:

https://www.helsinkipoetryconnection.fi/…/safer-space…/

Unfortunately, Tenho Restobar is not accessible.

The producers of the event are Elina Ortamo, Jarkko Jokinen and Eino Heikkilä. The poster is made by Eino Heikkilä.

Poetry Jam 19 October – Tide

05. 10. 202305. 10. 2023

You are warmly welcome to Poetry Jam club on Thursday, 19 October at 6.30 pm at Tenho Restobar! The theme of our Poetry Jam club this time is Tide. Tide is opening and warm, a flow of words, rhythm and sound movement, swirls, continuity and mixing. The evening will be flowing with our wonderful performers

Diliana Stoyanova
Piltonen & Jalvela
Ite Eerola

After the performances there will be Open Mic segment, and 5 poets will be chosen in advance. If you would like to be one of them, apply through hpc.openmic(at)gmail.com On the subject field write “Poetry Jam Open Mic” and your name. Please note that the open mic slots are max 5 minutes long.

The producers and presenters of the evening are Sonja Kaisanlahti and Tiina Jokelainen.
The event is organized in cooperation with literature association Nuoren Voiman Liitto.

The poster and the graphic design is designed by Pauliina Korpi.

The event is free, you are warmly welcome! See you at Tenho!

Runokuu Poetry Jam: Yhteys/Connection

03. 08. 202303. 08. 2023

Welcome to Runokuu’s Poetry Jam in Tiivistämö on 24.8. at 7 p.m.! This year’s Jam is full of amazing spoken word performances and it has the theme ‘Connection.’

This year’s wonderful performers are Stevi, A Pieski and Kaurilahti X Aiemaa.

Poetry Jam also will have a ‘Connection’ themed Open Mic segment, and 8 poets will be chosen to perform. If you would like to be one of them, apply through hpc.openmic(at)gmail(dot)com. On the subject field write “Poetry Jam Open Mic” and your name. The Open Mic segments spots are max 4 minutes long, and will be held after the main performances.

This event is produced by HPC Board members Sonja Kaisanlahti and Eltti Kinnunen, and they will be hosting the evening together as well.

The event is free of charge. Tiivistämö’s accessibility information can be found here: https://runokuu.fi/en/info-2/ Don’t hesitate to contact us for further info.Runokuu has a list of principles on which their events are based. We hope that each visitor will be familiar with the

prepared principles and will follow them upon visiting the space: https://runokuu.fi/…/upl…/2020/07/Safer-space-guidelines.pdf

Poetry Jam 25.11.2022

11. 11. 2022

Welcome to this year’s last Poetry Jam 25.11. staring at 19 ! We are looking ahead an all-round evening of poetry: we will witness singer-songwriting, mix of word and video art, multilingual poetry and poems of destruction of nature. Location is Kvääristö, Kolmas Linja 17, Helsinki.

The line-up:
– Diliana Stoyanova
– Mikko Räty
– Institute of Queer Mutations
– Karkki

There will be a short open mic to which the performers will be chosen with weird motives from the willing. So, send sample of your poetry in video, sound or text format by 18th of November to juhokuusi@hotmail.com, name your e-mail “Poetry Jam Open Mic ”.

After the event the DJ will play music until 2 o’clock, so you can also prepare yourself to move your dancing feet.

The event is produced and hosted by Jarkko Jokinen and Juho Kuusi, and is made possible with the help of Nuoren Voiman Liitto, City of Helsinki and Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.

We follow our safer space guidelines at our events, so please do respect others and behave.

The event is photographed by HPC, do tell the organizers if you wish not to be seen.

Free entry – warmly welcome!

(Poster: Jirko Viljanen)