Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 16 April
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
This event has been cancelled as part of our preventative measures to stem the spread of coronavirus COVID-19. If you have tickets for this event, we’ll be in touch with you directly via email.
Find out more about our response to COVID-19 here.
The spoken-word scene in Melbourne is vibrant, inclusive and thriving. Let's introduce a note of an unhealthy audience competition, shall we?
Lingo Bingo is a fun night out for spoken-word regulars and newcomers alike. Curated and hosted by Abdul Hammoud, you'll see a line-up of great local poets performing their work.
Audience members will get bingo cards filled with words. As the speakers perform, you'll cross off the words as you hear them – one at a time – until at last you can bellow 'BINGO!' across the Wheeler Centre, winning prizes and eternal glory.
It's a chance to see some of Melbourne's stalwart spoken-word favourites and acquaint yourself with exciting new artists on the scene. Bring friends and open ears or brush up on your rhyming slang and bring your ruthless senior-citizen vibes.
Please note, audience members will be sitting at tables for this event. Come with friends or join a table. Drinks will be available for purchase.
Featuring
Abdul Hammoud
Abdul Hammoud is a spoken word artist based in Melbourne by way of Lebanon. He teaches writing classes and workshops for schools and organisations that are looking to explore new avenues of expression and identity.
His art has taken him as close as New Zealand and as far as the United States, as well as to his beloved home country. In 2013, he became founder of The Dirty Thirty online writing platform, an ever-growing group of currently more than 2000 writers who want to challenge themselves every April. Shortly after, he became editor and compiler of The Dirty Thirty Anthology, a collection of poetry from the page he coordinates.
Most of his work revolves around current issues including the constant state of war in the Middle East, racial divides, as well as the portrayal of masculinity. He’s an avid purveyor of starting books but not finishing them.
Thabani Tshuma
Thabani Tshuma is a multi-award-winning Zimbabwean writer and performance poet. His work can be found in publications such as Dichotomi magazine, Next in Colour, CUBBY ART, Cordite Poetry Review, and ...
Sharifa Tartoussi
Sharifa Tartoussi is a poet and spoken word artist based in Melbourne. Her work focuses on identity politics and the struggles and triumphs of existing in a world that is constantly debating her right to do so. Her work has seen her on several stages across Victoria and New South Wales over the past four years, ranging from Sydney Opera House to inner city parking lots at twilight.
On the administrative front, Sharifa co-founded GriffinSpeak in 2016 with fellow artist Joumana Soueid, before taking on the project as a solo endeavour in 2018. GriffinSpeak runs quarterly and aims to provide space for marginalised populations around Melbourne to tell their stories. She released her first chapbook, ColourBlind, in early 2018, and a single poem zine titled on love and migration in early 2019.
Tenda McFly
Tenda McFly is a rapper and spoken word poet living and working in Naarm. His material is mesmerising and thought-provoking, offering a youthful intelligence that is representative of both his life experience and his generation. He manages to capture subtle nuances of life's complexities and conflicts whilst covering topics that centre around his perceptions of love and belonging.
Tenda McFly is the 2018 Grand Slam champion of Melbourne’s Slamalamadingdong, a previous TEDx speaker and one of Melbourne's most engaging musicians/poets to witness live.