Southern Fried Poetry Slam is an annual performing arts festival celebrating poetry, spoken word, and community outreach.

Born in 1993 from a sense of family, home cooked meals and good ol’ Southern food, Southern Fried Poetry shares the absolute best southern offerings — hospitality, comfort and tradition.

During the first week of June every year, a city in the Southeastern region of the United States plays host to one of the largest Spoken Word and Performance Poetry tournaments in the world and showcases some of the world’s most extraordinary writers, orators and artists whose talents will be on full display as they compete against 200+ poets for cash and prizes, and of course bragging rights to the South!

Get ready, Duluth! The mic is hot, the rhythm is live, and the words are powerful at the inaugural SoFried’s Words & Rhythms Poetry Day Festival—a one-day celebration of spoken word, music, and community magic. Taking place in August 23, 2025 at the Duluth Festival Center from 1PM to 5PM. This FREE, family-friendly event features live performances, music, community open mic, interactive workshops, and good times. Enjoy face painting, balloon art, a vibrant drum circle, local restaurants, and so much more. Whether you’re a poet, a fan, or just love good vibes, this is the place to be. Tag your crew and come vibe with us!

This festival is made possible due to sponsorship by Gwinnett Creativity Fund.

In 2023, we started planning several different platforms to support writers outside of busy competition. In an effort to implement this, we are bringing you monthly prompts with guided questions to support you in creating. We encourage you to take the time to write, create, and share. This can be expressed however you are led in written form.

That being said, Happy New Year! 2025 is upon us, and as we continue to strive to be better stewards to this art thing we do, challenge yourself and your peers to join you in pushing to reach new goals. Let us continue to support each other and most of all, have fun along the way. You can share them with us in the Facebook group, or via email at info@southernfriedpoetryslam.com. Use the hashtag #sofriedwrites. We look forward to seeing your pieces. 💙💙💙