Smart Gals presents THE 7TH ANNUAL DEAD POETS SLAM: Hot Poet/Cold Poet

Smart Gals’ Dead Poets Slam, a rowdy celebration of the work of deceased scribes, returns to Skylight Books for another scintillating, nail-biting night of lyric and non-lyric competition. Last year we pitted Monarchs against Minions. This year we bring you Hot Poet/Cold Poet. Do snowy winters make better writers? What effect does too much sunshine have on verse? Will poets who had to wear coats trump those who found their voices in more temperate zones? No matter who prevails, everyone will get to hear the works of well known and not-so-familiar dead poets performed anonymously by experienced performers who will give life to their works: Nöel Alumit, Lana Buss, Terry Carr, Kathleen Coyne, Juli Crockett Feldman, Lori Yeghiayan Friedman, Amy French, Jill Paxton, and Rita Williams. This year’s panel of "celebrity" judges includes Neda Pourang Disney, David Markland and Kwynn Perry. The 2011 slam was standing room only, so please arrive early to save yourself a seat.

About Smart Gals Productions: Smart Gals is a nonprofit, public benefit organization dedicated to developing the greater arts community in Los Angeles, by constructing original events in unlikely places and creating transformative social gatherings through The Reading Preserve™, our site-specific performance series Are You Interested?™. Mourners gathered last January to bid adieu to our long-running, now defunct semi-literary salon, The Speakeasy™. The spirit of the Speakeasy lives on in random literary happenings like our annual Dead Poets Slam. Now in its ninth year, Smart Gals has been featured in the LA Weekly, Los Angeles City Beat, LA Alternative Press, The Los Angeles Times, Bitch, Los Angeles magazine and on KPFK radio. Smart Gals’ visionary approach to collaborative work has introduced audiences and artists to a wide array of alternative venues, from a local church basement, to a machine shop in El Segundo, to Cleveland High in Reseda, to the land and sites along the Metro Gold Line.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 9, 2012.