Arantza Garcia from Norwood, SA has been crowned the 2025 Australian Poetry Slam Champion, following the National Final on Sunday 26 October.
SYDNEY, NSW, AUSTRALIA, October 27, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Arantza Garcia from Norwood, SA has been crowned the 2025 Australian Poetry Slam Champion, following a sold-out National Final at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday 26 October.
Performing to an electric crowd, Garcia’s first-round poem, Nine Suitcases and a Pram, reflected on her family’s migration from Peru to Australia, earning her a place among the top five finalists. In the final round, she delivered An Ode to Her, a stirring piece that explored the strength and versatility of femininity, reclaiming and redefining it through the examples of her friends, family and tías. The performance drew raucous applause and saw her claim the night’s top honour..
Miles Merrill, Creative Director of Word Travels said: ‘The Australian Poetry Slam is a barometer for the voice of the country; after five months of heats and workshops across Australia, we’ve truly connected with so many communities. I’m so pleased for Arantza’s win, and am excited to see what she does over the next year as the 2025 Australian Poetry Slam-Bassador.’
‘This year’s poets didn’t reach for spectacle; they reached inward. They explored memory, identity and place with honesty and courage, which is exactly what this year’s theme Grow Deeper is about. Every voice on that stage pushed us to feel more, to listen more, and to connect more deeply.’
Now in its 21st year, the Australian Poetry Slam is a nationwide search for the country’s most compelling spoken-word artists. Thousands of poets took to the mic at local heats and state finals across 50 towns and cities, culminating in a line-up of 16 national finalists at the Sydney Opera House. The 2025 season brought together diverse perspectives and powerful new voices, reaffirming the slam’s role as a stage for bold, authentic storytelling.
As this year’s champion, Arantza Garcia will tour her spoken word around the globe, with appearances at Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Mumbai LitFest, Singapore Writers Festival and Byron Writers Festival, alongside publications and mentoring opportunities valued at approximately $20,000.
The Australian Poetry Slam National Final closed out Story Week 2025: Grow Deeper, a ten-day celebration of storytelling that invited audiences to slow down and connect through words and shared experience. Across Sydney and the Blue Mountains, poets and audiences came together in cafés, theatres and community halls to rediscover storytelling as a way of understanding ourselves and each other.
Story Week 2025 was presented in partnership with the brand-new Caption by Hyatt Central Sydney, where events took place in the hotel’s vibrant social hub, Talk Shop – a café, bar and lounge designed for connection and creativity.
For more information about the Australian Poetry Slam and Word Travels, visit: wordtravels.info
ABOUT WORLD TRAVELS:
Word Travels is a not-for-profit arts company. They create literary and literacy programs with festivals, private companies, libraries, schools and cultural organisations around the Asia Pacific with a focus on developing performing writers.
Word Travels’ key objective is to inspire people to tell their stories in creative ways, primarily through live performance. They bring the mic to communities, plug it in and turn it up. Asking us to speak up, listen to each other and take action.
Timothee Luong
Original Spin
+61435715017 ext.
timothee@originalspin.com.au
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