Albany Word Fest Film Event, Tomorrow Night, As Part of an Ongoing Focus on Poetry Awareness

ALBANY, NY (04/16/2013)(readMedia)-- On Wednesday, April 17, for day four of the 2013 Albany Word Fest, Albany Poets is hosting a special, free screening at The Linda (339 Central Ave., Albany) of Louder Than A Bomb, a documentary chronicling the lives of the kids who are getting ready to compete at the "Louder Than A Bomb" youth poetry slam in Chicago.

Louder Than A Bomb is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It's about the joy of being young, and the pain of growing up. It's about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice. It also just happens to be about poetry.

Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world's largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as "Louder Than a Bomb". Founded in 2001, "Louder Than a Bomb" is the only event of its kind in the country-a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams. Rather than emphasize individual poets and performances, the structure of Louder Than a Bomb demands that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. To succeed, teams have to create an environment of mutual trust and support. For many kids, being a part of such an environment-in an academic context-is life-changing.

Louder Than A Bomb chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. This is not "high school poetry" as we often think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it-and the community they create along the way-is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.

Following the film there will be a short discussion about slam poetry, spoken word, and the getting the youth involved in the arts.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors at The Linda (339 Central Ave., Albany) open at 6 p.m. for this screening.

This is just one of many events that will be taking place in Albany during the 2013 Albany Word Fest week. This annual festival celebrating the poetry and spoken word of upstate New York is taking place from Sunday, April 14 - Saturday, April 20 at seven venues in and around Albany. Over 100 poets are scheduled to perform throughout the week at events including open mics, a haiku battle, featured readings, and a regional poetry slam featuring teams from across the Northeast.

For more information on all of the readings, open mics, slams, and how you can get involved, go to the Albany Poets website, http://albanywordfest.com.

"THE LINDA" WAMC's Performing Arts Studio

339 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206

Tickets available online at thelinda.org

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Graeme McKenna, 1-518-465-5233, ext.158, or gmckenna@wamc.org

"THE LINDA" WAMC's Performing Arts Studio is a multi-purpose facility located at the corner of Central Avenue and Quail Street in Albany, New York. The 210-seat performing arts studio hosts a diverse selection of events including concerts, debates, lectures, films, and other activities, many of which will be broadcast throughout WAMC's seven-state listening area and online at www.wamc.org.

Reporters are invited to attend these concerts as guests of WAMC. Please call Graeme McKenna, at

1-518-465-5233, ext.158 to tell us you're coming.