The South has something to say, and the Literary Council of Central Florida will ensure it’s heard as Orlando hosts the 34th annual Southern Fried Poetry Slam. From June 9 to 13, more than 200 poets will convene to battle for cash prizes and bragging rights while inviting Orlandoans to learn about the nation’s robust slam community.

The festival’s kickoff event, #ReviveZora, honors literary giant Zora Neale Hurston in her hometown of Eatonville as five notable Black women poets, including Orlando’s Poet Laureate Camara Gaither and the festival’s Director Blu Bailey, will read work inspired by Hurston’s legacy and written especially for the occasion.

Attendees can expect African drumming, documentary-style film clips, food and music, all at the Eatonville Library. “We plan to invigorate the town of Eatonville with literary arts and reimagine what a library can do,” said Shawn Welcome, former poet laureate of Orlando and president of the Literary Arts Council of Central Florida. “It will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen.”

The high-energy competition will take place at downtown’s Embassy Suites Hotel, with finals at the Orlando Museum of Art. Each competing team or individual must first qualify in their hometown to compete, thus serving as exemplary representatives of their cities. “You can expect a higher quality of performance and delivery from all of the artists,” Welcome said. “They’re ready to show off.”

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With a time limit of just three minutes and 10 seconds, each performance will quickly pack a punch. “It has to be captivating,” Welcome said. “It’s a riveting experience that’s going to bring you through a range of emotions.”

Judges, mainly community volunteers, will score the performances, though the slam saying goes, “The points are not the point. The point is poetry.”

Beyond the bouts, the festival offers workshops, open mics, themed slams and a masters versus rookies competition that will take place at the Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center, the former location of Jones High School, Orange County’s first Black high school. “There’s a lot of history and intentionality of where we’re choosing to do things, to give people what is unique to Orlando,” Welcome said.

Attendees will enjoy a welcoming atmosphere where they can meet the contenders, buy their books and appreciate the slam community’s inclusive nature. “I think spoken word poetry helps you to become more compassionate,” Welcome said. “You’re in spaces where you’re forced to listen to each other, which, to me, is the impetus of empathy.”

The festival encourages anyone curious about poetry to attend, especially those who have not yet experienced a slam. “Come dip your toe in,” Bailey said. “Nothing at the festival requires the full commitment of someone other than to be present.”

“There’s no excuse for anyone, whether you’re into literary arts or not, to not try something,” Welcome said. “And I think that what they’ll take away is much greater than what they expected.”

Beyond the Southern Fried Poetry Slam, the Literary Arts Council of Central Florida works behind the scenes to strengthen Orlando’s literary ecosystem and introduce the city to its own rich literary history and spirited present. LACCF aims to position Orlando as the literary arts capital of the South and hopes that the festival will show just how possible that is.

“We believe that it will drive us to become known as a place where poets, storytellers, spoken word artists and publishers would want to move because of the infrastructure that we put in place,” Welcome said. “But we have to lay the foundation.”