The Creative Cities of Literature, Reykjavík, Kraków, Tartu and Heidelberg have joined hands, together with Copenhagen, in the joint-project “Drop the Mic” which aims to engage the overlapping worlds of songwriting and poetry. The ongoing project is spearheaded by Reykjavík, Krakow and Tartu and supported by the Nordic Culture Point.

Traditional forms of writing often confine literature to text-based narratives. However, the interplay between the mediums of spoken word, slam, rap and hip-hop, songwriting, and poetry traverses linguistic, cultural and artistic barriers and develops infinite narrative possibilities that are often more tangible and approachable to audiences.

The project aims to build an international platform of cooperation. Participants will discuss existing work and identify similarities and differences between spoken word traditions in these countries. New ideas will be developed that will hopefully lead to the production of new experimental works and further development of the field, and there will be diffusion of knowledge and best practices.

The project starts in Reykjavík during the Reykjavík Reads Festival in October 2016, where poets meet, workshop and perform at public events.  Subsequently, poets will travel to the other cities. In all places, the guests will meet local poets, do workshops and take part in other events. In between these meetings, participants will connect online and work towards common international cross-cultural projects in the future.