For the first time, Francis Marion University’s (FMU) literary and art journal, “The Snow Island Review,” (SIR) will host its Poetry Slam and spring semester reading  in the Black Box Theatre at the Performing Arts Center (PAC). 

The Poetry Slam will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and the reading will take place after the release of the newest edition of the book later this spring.

Lucas Berry, junior English major and editor of SIR, said students will not have to register to participate, but they do need to come prepared.

“Contestants should be prepared to read three to five original poems before a live audience and judges,” Berry said.

According to Berry, the judges “will be randomly selected from the audience at the slam, and these judges will decide the winners.” 

Berry also said the first and second place winners will take home “mystery prizes.”

While both the poetry slam and the reading are sponsored by SIR and will be held at the PAC, they will be very different events.

“The poetry slam is a competition of spoken word poetry,” he said.  “The reading is an opportunity for authors to read their accepted works to a public audience.”

Both events will be free to attend, but unlike the poetry slam, only authors who have had work accepted into the newest edition of the SIR will be allowed to read.  For this event, authors who want to read will need to make arrangements with Berry in advance.  Like the poetry slam, this event will be available for all who want to attend.

“The reading will be pretty much the same as last year,” he said.  “I like how last year’s reading went, and there isn’t much I particularly want to change.  The reading is open to the public, but we’d like for it to remain mostly student oriented.”

The spring semester reading will also serve as a release party for the 2013-2014 SIR.  An official release date will be available soon.

Berry said copies of the book will be available at the reading-release party and in different locations of Founders Hall (FH), the Cauthen Educational Media Center (CEMC) and possibly elsewhere on campus.