The Boston Poetry Slam served as the host city slam for the 2011 National Poetry Slam.
The governing body of poetry slam, Poetry Slam, Inc., awards an annual bid to a city interested in hosting the National Poetry Slam, the world’s largest poetry slam and the organization’s showcase event. The Boston Poetry Slam and SlamMaster Simone Beaubien received the bid for NPS 2011 in March of 2010. The event ran from August 9 through 13 in Boston and Cambridge.
NPS 2011 was widely hailed as the best-attended NPS in the event’s twenty-one year history. More than 6000 spectators attended the sold-out preliminary bouts, semi-finals, and Group Piece Finals; including the daytime workshops, open mics, and late-night shows, the event presented more than ninety shows. The National Poetry Slam Finals, held at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, sold out in the days leading up to the event, filling 1,201 seats.
The following local volunteers were instrumental in the success of NPS 2011:
- Host City Director: Simone Beaubien
- Chief of Staff, Photography Lead: Marshall Goff
- Development Director: Michael Monroe
- Press Lead: Michelle Campbell Barry
- Press Lead: Kevin Spak
- Festival Guide Editor, Press Team: Melissa Newman-Evans
- Volunteer Coordinator: Megan Thoma
- Street Team Lead: Erin Jackson
- Day Events Coordinator: Adam Stone
- Late-Night Events Coordinator: Jeff Robinson
Boston Poetry Slam Online