The Southern Fried Poetry Slam is in Orlando for the first time. The event began in Asheville, North Carolina in 1993. Over the years, the festival grew and began traveling to different cities across the south. Former Orlando Poet Laureate Shawn Welcome is co-founder of the Literary Arts Council of Central Florida and the Southern Fried Poetry Slam’s ambassador for Orlando.
“To be on the organizing side of bringing the 34th annual Southern Fried Poetry Slam Festival here for the very first time is a dream come true, and I am excited about poets from around the country experiencing the city of Orlando and the surrounding area,” says Welcome, who first attended the event 20 years ago in Austin, Texas. “I'd never seen that caliber of talent and community building.”
The annual performing arts festival celebrates spoken word and poetry. More than 200 poets compete for cash, prizes, and bragging rights, across nearly a dozen venues in Central Florida from June 9-13, 2026. Each poetry slammer has three minutes to perform an original work.
“To perform it in a way that moves you in one way or the other with no music, no props, that requires a level of communication and skill and talent that is only 100% experienced being in the room,” Welcome adds.
The festival emerged from the southern spoken word tradition and became a gathering place for many Black artists who helped shape modern slam poetry. A kick-off event at the Eatonville Branch Library featured children’s programming and poems inspired by the works of former resident, acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston. Choosing that location was intentional. Eatonville was incorporated in 1887 as a self-governing Black municipality established by freed African American slaves.
“For a predominantly Black poetry slam festival, especially with The Southern Fried Poetry Slam's own roots of how it got started, I thought personally that will be a huge disservice to not include Eatonville in that experience here, given the history,” Welcome says.
The festival is about more than competition. It’s a place for poets, organizers, and volunteers to build relationships that continue long after the event is over.
Welcome says they made mental health support a priority. Trained volunteers are available throughout the festival and venues include quiet spaces to support performers experiencing anxiety and people who may be emotionally affected by topics they hear.
