“Louder Than a Bomb Massachusetts” youth poetry slam continues, April 25 – May 6

Teen poets from Somerville’s Books of Hope soared to success last weekend, earning a top spot in preliminary rounds of the sixth annual Louder Than A Bomb Massachusetts Youth Poetry Slam Festival (LTAB) on April 8 and 9. This Tuesday, Books of Hope poets will compete in the semifinal rounds where youth poets from the top 16 of the tournament’s 40 teams will perform their original poetry for a chance at the flagship finals event on May 6.

But the festival is about far more than the competition. “Our festival connects young people,” said Alex Charalambides, co-founder and managing director of the Massachusetts Literary Education and Performance Collective (Mass LEAP), which hosts LTAB. “So many view poetry as a solitary act, but by providing the spaces for these young people to connect, they really listen to one another’s stories and recognize each other as peers, even if they come from entirely different backgrounds.”

At LTAB, which originated in Chicago in 2001, and has since spread to other states, teens perform original works of poetry and judges score each piece on a scale from one to ten. The winning teams advance through several rounds in a bid for the finals, but the organizers emphasize the spirit of camaraderie over competition—as exemplified by the festival’s motto, “the points are not the point, the point is the poetry.”

On April 25, the 16 semifinalist teams of 4-6 poets each will compete for a chance to win a spot at the statewide finals at Dorchester’s historic Strand Theater on May 6. Competing in the semifinal round will be teams from 826 Boston; Books of Hope; Brookline High School; Buckingham Browne & Nichols School; FreeVerse Lowell; the Institute of Contemporary Art – Boston; KIPP Academy Lynn; Urban Science Academy; Academy of the Pacific Rim; Westborough High School; Codman Academy; Burlington High School; Boston Collegiate Charter Academy; Quincy High School; Boston Pulse; and Springfield Central High School.  The complete schedule is below.

“LTAB allowed me to reach out to other people, not just people in my community, but also people outside my community,” said Kingsley Metelus, a seventeen-year-old member of KIPP Academy Lynn Charter School’s Indigo Society Poets, the second place team overall in last year’s tournament and a competitor in this year’s semifinals.

Mass LEAP is a Boston-based collective of poets and educators dedicated to providing a platform for positive youth development through performance poetry. The organization coordinates artist residencies, professional development opportunities and events to build relationships in communities throughout Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.massleap.org.

For the third year in a row, LTAB is funded in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency, and supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

2017 Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts Tournament Schedule

Preliminary Bouts: Saturday, April 8th, 11am-8pm | Sunday, April 9th, 12-4pm

Sheraton Boston Hotel | 40 Teams Competed | 16 Semifinalists Chosen

Semi-Final Bouts: Tuesday, April 25th, 6-9:30pm

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate | 16 Teams Compete | 4 Finalists Chosen

Individual Finals: Saturday, April 29th, 6-8pm

UMass Boston, Lipke Auditorium | 24 Youth Poets Compete

4 top poets travel to San Francisco for Brave New Voices international slam

TEAM FINALS: Saturday, May 6th, 6-9pm

Strand Theatre | 4 Top Teams Compete

2017 LTAB Massachusetts Champion is Crowned!

All events are FREE except team finals, which is $10 general admission, free for youth groups.

Details and tickets at http://www.massleap.org/