On Friday, November 4^th, we will be hosting UBC’s first-ever Multilingual Poetry Slam. This event provides the opportunity for students to practice multilingualism through multi- and cross-lingual poetry performances. The Multilingual Poetry Slam will be integrated into various courses across campus, with students first performing their poetry in class in person, virtually or via a recording, before the finalists are invited to perform their poems at the Friday afternoon event to be held in the Asian Studies Auditorium.

This event will feature two tracks: The first category will be for original poetry written in the target language. Then, the second category will showcase student translations of poems in celebration of multilingualism. Participants will first read the English translation of their poem and then perform the poem in a different language or a combination of languages.

First and second prizes will be awarded to the top performances, the best poems, and the most compelling translations presented.

Please see this Multilingual Poetry Slam Assignment for suggested assignments – where you are also welcome to contribute your own. Then, feel free to adjust and modify these assignments to suit the needs of your classes and meet your course’s learning outcomes.

Winners

First Place
Hannah Foster
Colm Sam

Second Place
Daniel de la Riva
David Chen
Carsim Birmingham
Amitis Barzegar

Third Place
Mason Goldman
Peter Wu
Pedro de Faria Santos
Jiheun Kim
Mitsuki Sato
Manny Mangat