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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 Sablan Diaz is an indigenous CHamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan. He’s been featured by NBC News and Poets & Writers.org, and was recently shortlisted for the 2026 Poet of the Year Award by ONLY POEMS literary magazine. He’s received fellowships and support from Indigenous Nations Poets, Kundiman, the McCormack Writing Center (formerly Tin House), the Washington State Arts Commission, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology. He's a two-time grand slam champion and has taught with “Writers in the Schools.” He lives on the unceded ancestral lands of the Chinook in Vancouver, WA, where he volunteers to co-facilitate writing workshops at the juvenile detention center.
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.
