Sign Poetry Festival creative director Sam Hema is gearing up for tomorrow's event. Photo / Stephen Parker
Creativity and diversity will be celebrated at the annual Sign Poetry Festival tomorrow.
The full-day event will feature workshops, an open-mic session, guest speakers and performances by internationally known poets. The festival is organised by the Lamp Trust Aotearoa and chairman and event creative director Sam Hema said it was
a chance to hear original work.
"[It is] slam poetry, a style that is delivered in a certain way where there is a set of rules on how it's done, but it is spoken word poetry. It's recited in a way that is very raw and organic as far as the context and the style," Mr Hema said.
"Poetry is a powerful way in telling our stories, you just tell your message the way you want to, our deaf community has stories, our poets have stories and it's about sharing them.
"It's forming a connection with our creative culture and encourages the use of the official languages of Aotearoa - sign language, Maori and English."
