Union Square Slam presents Desireé Dallagiacomo and Semi-Finals #1, a special spotlight feature with Sam Sax, and our very first Semi-Finals, hosted by Omar Holman!!!

Competitors tonight:

Kearah Armonie
Noel Quinones
Guangpyo Hong
Anthony McPherson
Nkosi Nkululelo
Cecily Schuler
Carol Brown
Itiola Jones
Chris Rodriguez

6pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sara Emily Kuntz
7pm: Sign-ups start (open mic only)
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: Slam (invite only tonight)

*** AT OUR NEW LOCATION ***

Monday weekly slams will be hosted by the Bureau of General Services – Queer Division

housed in the LGBT Center

208 W 13th St, Rm 210

All Ages // $5 // 18 and under Free Admission

Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We will open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.

About our Feature:

Ranking 3rd in at the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam, 3rd at the Women of the World Poetry Slam, and 3rd at the 2014 National Poetry Slam, Desireé Dallagiacomo is an award-winning writer, performer, and educator. She is the program director and a lead teaching artist for Forward Arts Inc, a literary arts non-profit in Baton Rouge, LA, and a 2014 Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, The San Francisco Gate, EverydayFeminism.com, Upworthy, Tulane University’s production of The Vagina Monologues, the New Orleans Fringe Festival, and Tandem Review. Studying creative writing and women & gender studies, she is a student at the University of New Orleans– where she is a recipient of the Ryan Chigazola Poetry Scholarship. She has taught and performed at colleges, universities, and youth organizations across the country. Desireé enjoys working with student and community populations in middle school, high school, college, and beyond.

About our Slam:

Semi-Finals is an invite-only slam. The 8 highest ranking poets of the last 6 open slams are competing tonight — the top 2 winners secure spots in our Finals in May 2016. SemiFinals is run just like Open Slams: 3 rounds, first round has 8 poets in random order, 2nd round has 5 poets going from high to low ranking, and 3rd round has 3 poets, also from high to low. All rounds are cumulative. Each poet has 3 minutes to read a poem, plus a 10-second grace period. All other PSi Slam Rules apply.