Imagine it's just you and your words for two minutes with a mic in the spotlight. Orange City Library is calling all poets, hip-hop artists and other outspoken wordsmiths to polish their rhymes and lyrics for the Australian Poetry Slam.

On Thursday 22 July - at 6pm for poets to sign up and from 6.30pm to perform - Orange will host one of 8 slam heats planned across the state. Winners from the Orange heat will go on to perform at the regional final and a chance to perform in the State final.

Host Tug Dumbly (pictured) is one of Australia's greatest spoken-word artists and he will host this electric live event.

An initiative of the non-profit literary arts association, Word Travels and State Libraries, the Australian Poetry Slam is the nation's largest and richest poetry slam with cash and a gig at Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali up for grabs.

The Orange heat offers a $100 prize for the winner. And four heat finalists will go on to perform at the regional heat to be held in Bathurst on Saturday 7 August at 8pm as part of Cabaret Kite at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre.

All contestants have just two minutes to impress the judges (selected at random at each heat) with their spoken word, poetry, hip hop, monologues and stories. We need people to get up and have a go and for others to be in the audience - so come along for a fun night out.

Grenfell's Henry Lawson Festival of Arts June Long Weekend (starts Tuesday June 8 to Monday June 14)and includes Poetry - Performance, Exhibitions, Heritage, Street Parade, Music, Circus, Sport and Community events. A full program of events is available from: www.grenfell.org.au/henrylawsonfestival

Festival highlights this year are: Poetry by Firelight, Tuesday June 8, 7.30pm, Dramatic Society Rooms.

Wallangreen Sculpture Garden Open Thursday-Monday, afternoons.

Art Exhibition Opens Thursday June 10, 7.30pm, Grenfell Art Gallery.

Photography Exhibition Friday-Monday, Upper Main Street Grenfell.

Festival Concert With local bands, folk musicians, Melissa Robertson,Miranda Foster and Bush Poet Geoffrey Graham. Friday June 11, 7.30pm, Henry Lawson High School, Book at Louisa's Locker 02 6343 1577.

Poetry on the Boards Saturday June 12, sign up from 9.30am, Railway Station.

Poetry Slam with Miles Merrill - come and compete in the heats of this state-wide comp on Saturday June 12, 3pm, Railway Station.

Grenfell Dramatic Society The Man in the Bowler Hat and The Dilemma of Deidre Dearheart, Sunday June 13, 7.30pm & Monday June 14, 2pm, Rose St Rooms tickets CJ Anderson 02 6343 1610.

Drum roll.........Sarah Taylor, a 59-year-old retiree from Newcastle, threw her inhibitions to the wind and covered all the taboo subjects to win this year's Slam at the Opera House. Her frank insights about how the female body lets you down as you get older shocked the crowd, but the judges responded with a top score. It was a fantastic night with more than 280 people packed into the SOH Studio venue. Co-hosts Miles Merrill and ABC Radio's Simon Marnie did a great job and Simon personally thanked libraries and the State Library for backing such a great program. Congrats to all the contestants in the regional heats and final.

Local Stages at Bathurst Memorial Entertainement Centre is teaming up with 2MCE for a special live broadcast of Cabaret on 1 August. The Cabaret will be hosted by 'Bright Eyes' Mr Phil Glen, and along with guests Mr Aaron Hopper, Michelle Griffin, EQD, Fat Wombat and others it will bring together Bathurst's best music, comedy and physical performers. The special guest is legendary verse spinner, Miles Merrill, who brought poetry slams from his hometown Chicago, to Australia. Merrill mixes spoken-word with surreal vocal FX and intense narratives. As a multi-award winning writer and performer, he has presented in Krakow's Audio Art Festival, dozens of international writer festivals and hosted Poetry Slam in the Central West for the past three years. While in Bathurst, Miles will also be running a 'wordshop' on Saturday 1 August from 12noon – 3pm at BMEC. This is a great opportunity for writers and poets in the region to work with Miles. The workshop combines writing techniques with public speaking skills. From book to stage. Miles will help you present your work to an audience. Workshop is only $50.00 for adults, $25.00 students. Places in workshop are limited. Please contact BMEC Box office to book tickets or register for workshop on 6333 6161.

Congratulations to poets Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, and Alan Fragar, of Cowra, who just edged out Frank Daniel, of Canowindra, to win a place in the Australian Poetry Slam State Final coming up in Sydney on 13 November. The winning poets along with Kim Core, Matthew Ryan, Seamus Leyland and Dimas Bakini performed well and entertained the large crowd at Cowra Library. The Australian Poetry Slam 09 is an initiative of the State Library of NSW, and is supported by state, territory and public libraries and festivals across the country. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding & advisory body. Pictured above is Frank Daniel, 3rd place, host Miles Merrill, and Poetry Slam winners Josh Simpson and Alan Fragar.

Just in case you are wondering what a poetry slam actually is - here is the lowdown:

•A poetry competition with a live audience. •The contestant has two minutes to impress the judges with their own original word artistry – using spoken-word, poetry, hip-hop, monologue and even story, contestants can choose to speak, sing, scream, rap, howl or whisper their words. •Poetry Slam heats are limited to 20 contestants. •Five judges are picked randomly by the host who throws gifts into the audience. Whoever catches the gift is a judge. •Five judges hold up score cards and give performers marks out of 10. Only the middle three scores for each performance are calculated. •The judges decision is final. •The performer with the highest score wins. •Two winners only from each heat will compete in a state final, to be hosted from State and territory libraries. •If contestants tie for a place, there will be a "slam –off" to decide the winner. •Heat winners secure a place in the State Final at the State Library of NSW on 13 November, 2009. •The grand final will be held in Sydney on 3 December, 2009 at the Sydney Opera House. Poetry Slams have had popular appeal in the US for over 20 years. The interest in the dynamic art form has increased in Australia in the past four years. The Australian Poetry Slam 09 is an initiative of the State Library of NSW, and is supported by state, territory and public libraries and festivals across the country. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding & advisory body. For more information about the event please contact Cowra Library on 6340 2180 or Central West Libraries Reading and Writing Coordinator Jasmine Vidler on 6393 8125.

Cowra Library is one of 8 regional centres selected to host an Australian Poetry Slam Heat. It is fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to showcase their performing talents and be part of this exciting event. It is most like theatre sports. Performers sign up on the night and have two minutes to impress the judges with their rap, rhyme, story or spoken word performance. Cowra will host the Australian Poetry Slam Regional Heat on Friday 3 July at Cowra Library from 5.30pm. People who want to perform can sign up from 5pm. Five judges are selected randomly from the audience and the middle scores averaged out for each performance. So it is a fair competition and anyone can win on the night. We need people to get up and have a go and they could go on to win the State or even National titles and of course, we need an audience. They will have a great time. Also see talented word artist Miles Merrill perform. It is brought to you by the State Library of NSW.

ABC2 are broadcasting a one-hour highlight package of the Australian Poetry Slam 08 Grand Final at 10:30pm on Sunday March 15. The Grand Final was held at the Sydney Opera House in early December 2008. For those without access to digital television, there are also selected highlights still online at http://www.abc.net.au/poetryslam . The Australian Poetry Slam is run through State libraries across the country and a regional heat was held last September at Orange City Library.

Doors open to the public tonight for a Bush Slam as part of filming for a new ABC television series hosted by HG Nelson. ABC TV and Freehand Productions are taking two different poets to six rural towns to explore the culture, the beauty, the folklore and the humour. The other towns featured will be Lightning Ridge (NSW), Corryong (VIC), Yarrabah (QLD), Blinman (SA) and Stanley (TAS). Each poet is given just three days to capture the essence of the town and its people in verse. At the end of three days, the poets entertain the town in a live head-to-head poetry slam hosted by HG, with the locals deciding the winner. Doors open to the public tonight at the Japanese Gardens in Cowra from 5.30 pm and the wet weather venue is the Railway Hotel. There is a gold coin donation entry fee and be early to get a seat. Bush Slam will screen on ABC TV later this year. Read more about it in today's Cowra Guardian: http://cowra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/cowra-fuels-word-feast/1449729.aspx#

Hip hop artist and poet Omar Musa from Queanbeyan has won this year's Australian Poetry Slam competition, held at Sydney Opera House last night. Poetry slam is a style of performed poetry which takes its influences from rap and hip hop. After the 18 state and territory finalists performed on topics such as going to the dentist and football, there was a tie between Omar Musa from Queanbeyan, south-east of Canberra, and Mark Lloyd from Western Australia. Mr Musa ultimately won the $5,000 prize. He says he hopes others will be inspired to write poetry. "I think we should keep encouraging events like this because in Australia I think sport and all that sort of thing is encouraged as opposed to intellectual activity and things like poetry," he said. "I think things like hip hop and slam poetry events are the kind of things that would reignite a love for the English language, which I think is often missing." More than 600 people entered this year's competition, many with political themes such as the global financial crisis, war and women's rights. Regina Sutton from the State Library says there has been a resurgence of interest in poetry. Read more about the contestants http://www.abc.net.au/local/features/poetryslam/default.htm