Louder Than a Bomb

Louder Than a Bomb is an annual youth poetry slam in Chicago every spring. Founded in 2001 by Kevin Coval and Anna West of the nonprofit organization Young Chicago Authors, it is now the largest youth slam in the world with over 70 teams competing in 2011. The goal of the slam is to get diverse youth from all around the Chicago area to not only share their stories, but listen to the voices of those from other parts of the city they would otherwise never hear. Most participants are in high school, with some in middle school or college. In the largest part, the high school slam teams present four individual poems and one group piece performed by four people. Each team competes in two preliminary bouts. Four teams compete each bout. The top 16 go onto semifinals and the top 4 go onto finals. The name of the slam comes from the Public Enemy song of the same name.