ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando will host the 34th Annual Southern Fried Poetry Slam Festival—bringing the nationally recognized spoken word competition to Central Florida for the first time.
Scheduled for June 9-13, the festival is expected to draw over 200 poets, 32 teams, and 32 individual competitors to Orlando for five days of poetry slams, open mics, workshops, and community gatherings.
Since its founding in 1993, Southern Fried Poetry, Inc. has grown into one of the nation’s largest and most respected spoken word competitions. Organizers emphasize that the festival is more than a contest, it’s a celebration of storytelling, creativity, and community.
The Literary Arts Council of Central Florida, a nonprofit co-founded by former Orlando Poet Laureate Shawn Welcome and Alex Gurtis, will host the festival.
“Orlando has always had a vibrant literary and spoken word community — we have been building it for years, brick by brick, mic by mic,” Welcome said. “Bringing Southern Fried to Central Florida will catalyze our literary arts scene into an even brighter future.”
Festival events will be held at venues throughout Orlando and Eatonville, including the Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando Public Library, CityArts, and the Callahan Community Center.
The festival will open June 9 with the #ReviveZora Kickoff, a tribute to author Zora Neale Hurston in Eatonville, her hometown and one of the nation’s oldest incorporated Black municipalities.
Poets will compete for nearly $20,000 in prize money, including a $5,000 prize for the winning team.
Organizers say the event represents a major milestone for Orlando’s growing arts and culture scene and is expected to draw performers and audiences from across the country.
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