Robert Bob Hýsek (CZ)

Významný český prekladateľ a propagátor slam poetry. Slamové semináre viedol aj na Olomouckej Univerzite. Bol garantom niekoľkých grantov pre Slam Poetry SK a Slam Poetry CZ.

Mgr. Lenka Šafránová, Phd (sk)

Vysokoškolská pedagogička, poetka a autorka pre deti, ktorá pôsobila na UNIPO a UPJŠ. Slam poetry umiestnila taktiež do svojho semináru o súčasnej slovenskej literatúre.

Péter Molnár, phd (HU)

Majster Maďarska v slam poetry za rok 2018 a Majster Európy v tom istom roku. Péter Molnár vyučoval na Stredoeurópskej Univerzite (CEU), je slamerom svetového formátu. Angažuje sa v literatúre a v pro-demokratickom aktivizme.

špeciálny hosť

Sean Patrick Mulroy (usa)

Sean Patrick Mulroy je spisovateľ, herec, hudobník a vizuálny umelec zo Spojených štátov. Jeho prvá zbierka Hated for the Gods vyšla vo vydavateľstve Button Poetry v roku 2023. Jeho najnovšia kniha sa volá Tortured: Poems After Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department.

Robert Bob Hýsek (CZ)

Prominent Czech translator and promoter of slam poetry. He also conducted slam seminars at the University of Olomouc. He has been a guarantor of several grants for Slam Poetry SK and Slam Poetry CZ.

Mgr. Lenka Šafránová, Phd (sk)

University teacher, poet and children's author who worked at UNIPO and UPJŠ. She has also placed Slam Poetry in her seminar on contemporary Slovak literature.

Péter Molnár, phd (HU)

Hungarian slam poetry champion in 2018 and European champion in the same year. Péter Molnár taught at the Central European University (CEU), he is a world-class slam poet. He is involved in literature and pro-democracy activism.

special guest

Sean Patrick Mulroy (usa)

Sean Patrick Mulroy is a writer, actor, musician, and visual artist from the United States. His first full-length collection, Hated for the Gods, was published by Button Poetry in 2023. His most recent chapbook is called Tortured: Poems After Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. 

Austria

David Samhaber

David Samhaber, born and raised in the north, studied in the west and has now arrived in the east of Austria. Originally a kindergarten teacher, now an editor and slam poet, he likes to talk on stage about his grandmother's dumplings, his love-hate relationship with his homeland and other earth-shattering stories.

Belgium

Tilke Wouters

Tilke Wouters is a slam poet from Belgium who slams about personal experiences, LGBTQIA+ rights, mental health and justice. They want to shine more light on the voices from the margins.

croatia

Hrvoje Mimica

Hrvoje Mimica (MC Ružan MC Glup MC Star zvan Deda)

Cyprus

MR Z—Andros Zacharia

Andros (aka Mr Z) is a Cypriot born in London but raised in Cyprus, who works with numbers during the day and the rest of the time with letters. Basically he is an accountant by profession and a performer/speaker by passion. He is determined to bring creativity and value during his stay here on planet earth through the use of letters, as the world is too focused on numbers. He quotes, “His sole purpose is to full fill his soul's purpose”

Czech Republic

Malda—Martin Malík

Finalist of the Czech Republic in Slam Poetry 2022 and champion of the Czech Republic 2023. He studied English for translation and interpretation and is now studying Film, Televison, and Radio studies at the Palacký University. His greatest passions are instrumental to his Slam Poetry texts: dancing, acting, and singing.

Denmark

Sara Hauge

Sara lives in Denmark as a full-time poet. She writes about the body, the system and vulnerable people and often deals with themes such as loneliness, poverty and mental illness. In 2024 she graduated from the Manuscript School for Children's Fiction, and published a young adult novel called "When I Lost 13 Phones in a Year”. Sara is a double Danish champion in Poetry slam, which happened in 2014 and 2018. She is also a double Copenhagen champion in Poetry slam, which happened in 2016 and 2018.

England

Sven Stears

Sven Stears (they/them) is one of the UK’s foremost slam poets, and the current English National Slam Champion. They are the Slam master for Slamden—Camden’s poetry Slam, and the UK’s only Sober, Metal, Slam. They have toured the UK and Europe, headlining and winning slams across the continent. As a recording artist, their work has received airtime on national radio stations, and been featured by the BBC multiple times. Their heartfelt poetry touches on themes of personal loss, societal trauma, mental health and addiction, but always with little messages of hope.

Estonia

Iina Gyldén

Iina Gyldén is a Finnish born and raised medical doctor and poet who found stage poetry and her voice during her years in Tartu, Estonia. She is a trilingual poet who gets her best ideas on long walks with her dog and loves poetry for the absolute freedom to feel, express and share emotions and her message as dramatically as she wishes.

finland

LAJUNE—Aki Lajunen

LAJUNE is a spoken word artist or rather stage performer. Aggressively sensitive texts are boiled in a broth of black humor, self-irony and years of accumulated bitterness. Love and death sit at the same table and there is no place for light small talk in this setting.

France

Yannick Nédélec

After starting out as a singer and comedian, Yannick turned to the theatre as a writer and actor. His fables and poems naturally led him into the world of slam, a field in which he quickly became quite a medal collector! By combining poetic writing with a sense of humour, the power of words with the taste for performance, the mischievousness of the author with the experience of the actor, he makes slam become a real party!

Germany

Theresa Sperling

Theresa Sperling (*1971 in Berlin) lives in Nordhorn with her husband and two sons. She is a teacher, spoken word artist, playwright, and novelist. Her emotional socio-critical slam texts have taken Sperling to the final of the Lower Saxony-Bremish Poetry Slam Championships eight times in a row. Sperling has now won every title that poetry slam in Geman speaking countries has to offer: in 2020 she became German-speaking Poetry Slam Champion as part of the “Unterricht mit Psychos” team, in 2023 she became Lower Saxony-Bremish Poetry Slam Champion in the soloist and team competitions as well as champion of the German speaking countries in the soloist competition.

Greece

 Satu Onak

Christophoros Maligiannis is 30 yo and he works as a math teacher. He's started writing poetry in highschool and he's been taking part in slam poetry events in Greece and abroad since 2019. His poems concern the concepts of unfulfilled love, family relationships and social injustice. He thinks that poetry slam is all about being embraced.

Holland

Wim Landuyt

Wim builds bridges; between art and technology, words and and the things we cannot see, between a subtle act of intervention or a grandiose momentum.

Hungary

Nóra Judit Kovács

Representative of the Hungarian slam scene.

Ireland

Anna D—Anna Doran

Anna D is a spoken word poet from Dublin, Ireland. Throughout her short poetry career, she has won multiple slams and poetry competitions including the All-Ireland Poetry Slam. Anna has an interest in the interplay between emotions and patterns of behaviour, family and collective trauma and the impact of oppressive systems on how we relate to each other and the world today. Her poems are raw, honest and relatable portrayals of her experience of the human condition in all its grime and glory. Her performances are gut-wrenching and emotional, but always painted with equally as much light and hope, as darkness.

Italy

Giuseppe Piccolo

Giuseppe Piccolo, born in Torre del Greco in 1999, is a robotics engineer pushing the boundaries of space exploration. By day, he crafts the future with cutting-edge technology; by night, he reigns as Italy’s slam poetry champion, leaving audiences so mesmerized they forget to clap. His dual passions for engineering and poetry are fueled by a deep fascination with places and people, believing about their deep connection.

Latvia

Klemencs Rietenis—Artūrs Bricis

I'm from a small town in Latvia, currently living in the capital—Riga. I enjoy walking and playing games while my profession is in Journalism.

Lithuania

Domas Šimaitis

I‘m 23 years old, I am studying philosophy at Vilnius University. I started writing slam poetry five years ago. I like to write about a lot of different topics, but for now I’m really interested in futuristic issues.

Luxembourg

Dany Coimbra

Dany Coimbra has been writing rhymes since he was twelve years old. These rhymes were first performed in punk rock songs, then rap. Feeling perpetually out of place, he grew up in alternative scenes – and helped them grow. The 34 year old started slamming in 2024, drawing from his music. As a member of the Portuguese minority in Luxembourg, his art also expresses the untranslatable feeling of saudade.

Macedonia

Milanco Pendev

I am nobody, who wants to tell anyone that there is someone who loves everyone.

norway

Patrick Raugstad

Patrick Raugstad (born 1990) is a slam poet and aspiring sage from Sandnes, Norway. He debuted in 2022, had three poems published in a slam poetry anthology in 2023, and won the Norwegian national championship in slam poetry in February 2024.

portugal

Maria Caetano Vilalobos

Graduated in Theatre, with a master's degree in Interpretation and Artistic Direction. Creator of shows such as “Nu Geral” and “Mulher, Posso e Mando” and author of the book of the same name by Urutau. With poetry sown in her childhood, she just became the national champion after being three-time slam poetry Amadora champion and national finalist. Won some other slam events in Portugal and this year won her first international slam event in Berlin, organized by Kiezpoeten. In that same trip she was an invited artist and slammer in ten events, culminating in the Champions Gala. She was also a finalist in the international competition Martelive Europe and in the National Exhibition of Young Creators, winner of the Cantar Abril competition in the performing poetry category and a participant in the Got Talent Portugal Show 2024.

romania

Simona Sigartău

My name is Simona Sigartău, I am 31 years old, I am from Romania, Harghita County, Transylvania. I am teacher and a poet, I am writing poetry since 2018 and trying my best in slam poetry in the las year. This year I had my first poetry book. I believe that poetry must bring emotions and power, must recognize  the hard work, the abuse, the lies, the unconfortable truth and the taste of true love.

Serbia

Sandra Zivkov

Sandra Živkov was born in 1978. Since she was a child, she truely loves art and approaches it in various ways. She graduated in ethnomusicology at the Music Academy in Belgrade. She is fascinated by music, dance and rhythm of words, so writes poems, diary entries and stories. She observes and alalyzes herself an others, trying to understand what makes people happy and what brings them down. She is particularly interested in women‘s issues. From 2022. she explores performance and really enjoys playing. In 2024. she published a collection of poems “Zaigrala sam se”. Happily married, mother of three children.

Scotland

Gordon Christopher Powrie

Gordon Christopher Powrie is the 2024 Scottish Slam Champion. A six time national finalist, he competed in the Slam World Cup in May 2024 and finished 13th overall. Fast paced and darkly comic, Gordon explores themes like fatherhood, love and vasectomies through the eyes of a lifelong nihilist who prefers throwing syllables to throwing fists.

Slovakia

freya—Alexandra Gábelová

This year's Slovak champion, who doesn't like to win and dislikes losing even more. Ever since she read that Aristotle recommends finding the middle ground between two extremes, she has given up making decisions in all areas. If she's not angry in her writings, then she's probably in love. A poet of feelings, an impulsive person, and an existential enigma that is aware of her prism of perception.

Slovenia

Nika Gradišek

Nika collects pebbles, cool thoughts and kind people. She cannot keep a houseplant alive for the life of her. She is a poet, an essayist, a translator, a journalist, a debater, and an amateur actor. A student of sociology and the English language, she loves to overcrowd her schedule with fascinating (and often underpaid) projects. She dabbles in research journalism and she is a reporter for the Radio Student community radio station where she reports on everything concerning education but also writes about literature, contemporary dance, and feminism. She takes her coffee with milk, her theory with practice and her dog out for a walk.

spain

Marta Dylan—Marta Reina Garaizar

Poet of soil and roots, of sea and origin. From Cádiz, of flamenco quill, author of the poetry book Aullidos del Subconsciente—Howls from the Subconscious and representative of ‘Poetry Slam Gadir’ in the IX, X, XI and XIII National Poetry Slam Championship. Her grandmother traded the nursery rhymes for Federico García Lorca’s romances, and here lies her experiment.

Sweden

Ingrid Stenlund

Ingrid Stenlund represents Sweden in the European Poetry Slam Championships. In her writing and performances, she explores the border between poetry and music, often collaborating with other artists. She also serves as a board member for two poetry associations in her hometown of Uppsala—one organizes Poetry Slam and open mic events, while the other advocates for linguistic diversity among young poets.

Switzerland

Honorable Scarabée—Loc Nguyen

Active in the worlds of theater, slam poetry, and storytelling, Honorable Scarabée blends these arts to create a unique style and convey values that are close to his heart, such as tolerance, feminism, and respect. He is delighted to come to Košice to give his best on stage and to try bryndzové halušky.

ukraine

Herasymyuk Olena

Writer. Co-founder. Volunteer-medic.