The Seventeen Syllable Slam is a literary comedy poetry competition where poets attempt to win over judges with their short poems. Each poem needs to have seventeen syllables or less (sort of like a Haiku) and there will be 16 poets in the competition, with the top four taking home cash prizes. The poems do not have to be funny, but the event certainly will be. Please expect a unicorn, bubbles, flags, and fur.
Location: HSBC Hall
Type: Poetry, Competition
Presented by: Word Vancouver · Death Rides a Unicorn
Sonya Littlejohn | Jenny Garcha | Erin Kirsch | Amanda Eagleson | Trevana Spilchen | Mo the Poet | David Geary | Duncan Shields | Kayla Price | Fernando Raguero | Aaron Hunter | Leslie Stark | Warren Dean Fulton | RC Weslowski | Kyle Hawke
Sonya Littlejohn
Sonya Littlejohn is from Williams Lake, British Columbia. She works in the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) . She graduated SFU and UBC. Sonya is widely published including The Sun Book (2024). She is a community advocate, neurodivergent, mother, and poet.
Herbert
An emerging spoken word poet, Herbert has been performing poetry for the past year and a half. They dedicate their poetry to overcoming mental illness and social anxiety and to make others feel less alone. Herbert is also a mental health advocate and a piano teacher, and loves photography and traveling.
Amanda Eagleson
Amanda Eagleson’s poetry has been published in Plum Tree Tavern, Prairie Journal, and Inside The Bell Jar. She has written for The Shanghai Literary Review and her articles can be found on the website Optimistic Learner as well as Medium. Her chapbook is titled Cinderella Sleepwalks. She lives on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Trevana Spilchen
Spillious aka Trevana Spilchen is a Trans feminine settler educator, parent, musician and spoken word artist of Ukrainian and Irish decent. They are the 2024 recipient of the Zacheus Jackson Memorial award, won the 2017 Grand Slam Championship of the Vancouver Poetry slam and finished 6th at the 2018 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam. They served as the coordinator of the Vancouver Poetry Slam from Sept 2021-23 and have toured as a featured poet all throughout Canada and the US. Spillious has released 3 chapbooks of poetry and the last, Tales of Trans-formation has sold over 200 copies. They are the SOGI (sexual orientation & gender identity) coordinator for the Delta School District and sit on the executive of the BCTF. Trevana has a Masters in Social Justice Leadership in Education from UBC and has been facilitating workshops on gender all over the province for the last 9 years. Most importantly, Spillious is a parent to 4 kids ranging in age from 6 yrs to 24 yrs old and 4 cats named Cola, Orange Crush, Dr. Pepper & Rootbeer!
Mo the Poet
Mohini Takhar is a writer and multi-disciplinary artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She holds an Associate of Arts degree in Creative Writing from Douglas College. Takhar is an alumna of Brick Books’ Brickyard Spoken Word youth mentorship program, where she was mentored by Charlie Petch from 2021 to 2022. She has performed spoken word at several festivals like the Verses Festival of Words, Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, and Voices of Today. In 2021, her self-published debut poetry chapbook, Pieces of Me, was released. Her work has been exhibited at the Roundhouse Community Centre and published in pulp MAG, The Mighty, and Goat’s Milk Magazine, and Pearls 40: An Anthology Of Work By Douglas College Creative Writing Students Takhar is currently working on her full-length poetry collection and is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Duncan Shields
Duncan Shields is an animator, author, poet, burlesque performer, podcaster and spoken word artist currently living in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and daughter. A Haiku Champion, Nerd Slam Champion, Movie-by-minute co-host, flash fiction author, and former Vancouver Poetry Slam Master. A huge lover of poetry, science fiction, fantasy, comics, and movies. He enjoys the rain, burritos, and he’s happy to be here.
Kayla Price
Kayla’s heart and soul can be found amidst pages of poetry and jazz lead sheets. She’s currently studying music at Capilano University, striving to create and to celebrate the arts with all that she does. She’s yet to publish any works, but has been venting her thoughts and desires into slam and spoken word since she first heard of the mediums. Self expression through writing and music has always come easy to her, and she thanks her creative self for comforting her mind during tough chapters of her life and beyond. You can find her playing jazz gigs across Vancouver and the Tri-Cities, out and about drawing in a newly acquired sketchbook, or laying in her bed staring at the ceiling.
Aaron Hunter
Aaron Hunter (he/him) is a poet, performer, visual artist and student. He runs the weekly open mic at Brave Brewing in Port Moody. In between classes and work you can find him writing on topics such as identity, community and healing. His debut chapbook "The Archives" is set to be released by the end of 2024.
Leslie Stark
Leslie Stark is a high school drama teacher who is also a poet, playwrite, dancer, singer, maker of pretty things, expert catnapper, master Christmas baker and generally warm hearted human who is so grateful to reside on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples.
Warren Dean Fulton
Warren Dean Fulton is a long time creator of poems, poetry chapbooks, one time video poems, now short films and feature films.
RC Weslowski
RC Weslowski is an award-winning spoken word poet and radio broadcaster. He has featured at poetry events and festivals across Turtle Island and parts of Europe. 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of making his first Vancouver poetry slam team. His first book of poetry, My Soft Response to the Wars is out on Write Bloody North Publishing. www.writebloodynorth.ca
Kyle Hawke
Kyle Hawke is a poet, voice artist, and editor. Through his various interactions with words, he knows how they can change the world and wants to give them the platform to do so. whispers of humanity, Kyle’s first collection of poetry in book form, juxtaposed with the art of Wade Edwards, was launched at the start of the pandemic. He claims no causal relationship. He lives in Vancouver, BC.
