Dublin’s Cormac Mac Gearailt is the winner of Slamovision 2024, having competed against the finest spoken word artists across the UNESCO Cities of Literature network.

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature use creativity and culture to promote the social, economic and cultural development of their cities. In these times of global uncertainty, the network continues to connect literary communities across the world, forging bonds through the power of books, words and ideas.

In Manchester on 12th December 2024, 14 UNESCO Cities of Literature put forward their finest slam poet to represent them in the Slamovision Grand Finale. The worldwide competition has been running for six years. To watch the entire Slamovision finale broadcast live from Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University follow the link below.

The 2024 champion, Cormac Mac Gearailt (pictured above) has brought the Slamovision crown to Dublin with his poem ‘Lament of the Trees’, winning the competition for Ireland for the first time. Cormac is a bilingual spoken word artist and poet from Dublin, who explores profound themes such as the passage of time, urban isolation, addiction, ecological collapse, the loss of native language, along with love, family, and the beauty of nature. In September, he was the winner of the Leinster Slam Championship.

This was the largest Slamovision to date, and arguably the most competitive yet. Each finalist had already got through at least one local heat and delivered their best performance to compete for the coveted title of champion. A close second place went to Manchester’s own Griot Gabriel, closely followed by Thomas Valcourt from Québec City in third.

The ‘Eurovision for the Spoken Word’ has been contested since 2019 and is aimed at increasing cultural participation within individual cities as well as showcasing local talent on an international stage.

Fourteen Cities of Literature participated in Slamovision 2024, three cities for the first time ever: Bremen (Germany), Dublin (Ireland), Exeter (UK), Gothenburg (Sweden), Iowa City (US), Kutaisi (Georgia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Manchester (UK), Nottingham (UK), Québec City (Canada), Reykjavik (Iceland), Tartu (Estonia), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Wroclaw (Poland).

Anne-Marie Kelly, Director, Dublin City of Literature said:

‘We’re bowled over in Dublin to be the winners of this year’s Slamovision with an Irish slam poem presented by an All Ireland Slam poet, Cormac MacGearailt. Thanks so much to all in Manchester City of Literature for putting on such a professionally produced show with the lovely MC, Reece Williams. It was thoroughly enjoyable to see such talented slam poets from other UNESCO cities and Dublin is looking forward to presenting Slamovison in 2025 following in Manchester’s footsteps.’