Lingo - Dublin's Inaugural Spoken Word Festival

This October, Dublin welcomes Lingo to the scene as Ireland’s first ever spoken word festival, showcasing the best that the genre has to offer.

The folks behind Lingo believe that Irish spoken word is on a par with any in the world, that it deserves attention and a platform to grow our own spoken word community. The first Lingo festival, which takes place October 17th to 19th, aims to put Ireland on the map for spoken word and to foster indigenous talent.

The festival takes place across the city in the Smock Alley Theatre, The Workman’s Club and The Liquor Rooms and the diverse events aim to highlight the quality and diversity of contemporary performance poetry in Ireland. The programme so far includes John Cummins, the All Ireland Slam Champion; Polarbear (pictured below), word artist and storyteller; poet Paula Meehan (pictured below), current Chair of Irish Poetry; Abby Oliveira of The Poetry Chicks and the Liberties based Karl Parkinson.

Emerging word artists will also be given a platform through open mic events; the ‘Lingo UNESCO City of Literature Poetry Slam‘ has a grand prize of opening for Damien Dempsey at the London Irish Centre. By night hip-hop and spoken word come together for ‘The Late State‘ in the Liquor Rooms. Dublin figures like Rick O’ Shea and Senator David Norris will present their favourite poem for ‘Hero Hour’, a charity event in aid of Childline, followed by an interview with presenter Sean Rocks about their choice.

Other events include the Lingo poetry brunch, panel discussions, poetry bingo (we can’t wait to see what this is about) and snapshot showcases of well known Irish spoken word events, such as The Brownbread Mixtape, Nighthawks and The Monday Echo. The full programme is coming soon, so stay tuned.

Individual events are priced from €10, day passes €16 and a limited special offer of a weekend pass for just €35. Tickets go on sale 17th September and are available online and from Smock Alley Theatre box office phone 01-6770014.

Lingo A Spoken Word Festival runs from October 17th – 19th, 2014 at Smock Alley Theatre,The Workman’s Club and The Liquor Rooms.