One of Germany’s leading slam poetry performers will perform in German and English at WSU as part of her 2006 U.S. tour titled “Fairy, the Tale.” The event, free to the public, will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Kimbrough 101.
Nora Gomringer will perform both oral tale spinning and poetry slam. She will re-introduce listeners to a number of old German fairy tales but with new twists.
Slam poetry puts a dual emphasis on writing and performance, encouraging poets to focus on what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. In slam poetry contests, poets are judged on a numeric scale by randomly picked members of the audience.
This aspect of poetry slam is so explicitly “democratic” that it seems particularly suited for American audiences, said Bernadette Hyner, WSU assistant professor of German. She is hosting Gomringer as part of a class titled Masterpieces of German Literature in Translation: Tale Spinners: Oral Histories in German Culture.
