Slamlandia – October
Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month at Literary Arts, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safe space for poets to read their own poetry, witness others, and participate in community.
October’s Slamlandia will be guest hosted by Christopher Diaz. The feature poet is Ben Yisrael.
Christopher Diaz
Christopher is a writer, performer, and photographer from the island of Guåhan. He has been featured by NBC news, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Poets & Writers.org, and more. He is a two-time grand slam champion of Houston’s slam poetry team, “Write About Now,” which ranked fifth in the nation in 2018, and he recently won first place at the 2023 Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam festival with his PNW slam team, team “tbd.” He specializes in performing arts photography and has previously taught poetry and coached performance with the non-profit, "Writers in the Schools." You can find him at www.christopherdiazcreates.com.
Ben Yisrael
Ben Yisrael is a performance poet and multidisciplinary artist. He is an NPS finalist, the 2010 Dallas Poetry Grind Slam Champion, the 2014 NPS Head-to-Head Haiku Champion, and the 2017 and 2019 Seattle Slam Champion. His team ranked at Portland’s Bigfoot Poetry Festival in 2019 and 2026. He is the author of A Gorgeous New Language, and his forthcoming collection is The Sun Is for Lovers with Thick Skin.
