If poets had their own version of the World Cup, where teams from all over the world gathered in one city to compete for title of “Grand Slam Champions,” the Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam would have to be it.

This year the 13^TH Annual Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam will take place in Los Angeles. The event starts this week and concludes on July 24^th.

Brave New Voices was the brainchild of Youth Speaks. It was created in 1998, after the first Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam.

The Brave New Voice International Poetry Slam is part Olympics, part World Cup. “The Slam” consists of three rounds, the Quarterfinals, which feature 50 teams, Semi-Finals, which features 16 teams and the finals, where the last four teams compete for the championship.

Five poets make a “team”, and are usually the top five scorers from their regions Teen Poetry Slam. For example, the top five scorers from this year’s Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam will represent the Bay Area in Los Angeles.

Those five poets are Bryant Phan and Dominic Masaki Nicholas will be representing Oakland. Hadeel Ramadan, Erica Sheppard, Natasha Huey and Jazmine Williams, all from San Francisco are the other members that make up the team

With any team there must coaches. The Bay Team will be coached by well-renowned poets Jamie DeWolf of The Suicide Kings and Tourettes without Regrets, Jose Vadi and Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam alum Terry Taplin.

Let’s see if the Bay Team can bring home the gold in this year 13^th Annual Brave New Voices Teen Poetry Slam.

For more information on Brave New Voices head over to  http://www.bravenewvoices.org/