Landau is becoming a hotspot for poetry slam: Who will be the national champion in 2025?

Landau is becoming a hotspot for poetry slam: Who will be the national champion in 2025?

Next weekend, Landau will be transformed into the pulsating center of stage art when the Rhineland-Palatinate State Poetry Slam Championships take place. In a thrilling atmosphere, 16 talented poets from various cities such as Mainz, Trier, Koblenz and Kaiserslautern compete against each other to demonstrate their skills. Landau is the venue for these exciting championships for the third time, after the city was the venue for such events in 2012 and 2019. The Rhine Palatinate reports that the competitions begin on June 27th and consist of two semi-final rounds that will take place on the university campus in Fortstrasse from 7:30 p.m.

The participating artists not only aim to win the title of national champion, but also to inspire the audience with a colorful mix of political, satirical, lyrical and humorous contributions. Each performance is limited to a maximum of 6:30 minutes and takes place without props - only the words count. The finale will be crowned on June 28th in the Universum Theater Landau, where the winner will be chosen by the audience. Aileen Schneider, Anuraj Sri Rajarajendran and Markus Becherer lead the evenings and guarantee an entertaining event. Particularly exciting: Rajarajendran opens the finale with his own feature text. AEvents highlights that tickets for the final are available both in advance and at the box office, while the semi-final tickets can only be purchased directly on site.

Young talents on stage

Another highlight of the poetry slam scene is the U20 competition, in which young up-and-coming slammers will compete against each other on May 16, 2025 in Neustadt. Here the best three talents each receive a starting place at the national championship. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the poetry slam scene is lively and varied, ranging from classic slams to less competitive formats such as reading stages and slam shows.

The origins of the poetry slam go back to 1986 in Chicago. Since the 1990s, the concept, which translates as “poets’ battle,” has become established worldwide. The well-known literary competition is also very popular in Rhineland-Palatinate and is valued for the fact that the participants often incorporate performative elements into their texts. Slam dates highlights that the German-speaking scene has even been included in UNESCO's nationwide list of intangible cultural heritage.

The national poetry slam championships are not just a competition of words, but also a celebration of the creativity and diversity of slam culture. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend this event to experience the poets' impressive achievements up close and discover one or two new favorite poets.