Hamilton's Eddie Lartey wins international poetry slam held in Brazil

Hamilton poet Eddie Lartey, winner of the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam, is now champion at the international Abya Yala Copa "América" de Poetry Slam competition held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

At the competition on Dec. 11, Lartey competed against 13 poets and delivered some poems that were "stories of love and struggle that are universal." 

I plan to not let this title just be an individual accomplishment but one where I can use it to inspire others and hopefully have future generations of winners come from Hamilton as well.- Eddie Lartey, poet

"I feel good. It feels like a relief," Lartey said. "You've worked so hard to achieve this thing and say 'ah I finally got it done' and make this nice little sigh. All those people who believe in me and support me, I was able to achieve this for them." 

Lartey performed: Darkest Pity Party, Kin in the Kinetic, Nasa, Sign Language, and Black Love on stage in Rio de Janeiro. The event was streamed live and the performances were interpreted in American Sign Language and captioned in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

"They're written in a first-person perspective — my perspective and my stories — and stories of the community I live in," said Lartey. "They're my stories, but they're not just mine. They're Hamilton's as well."

Taking the Hamilton You Poets with him to Brazil

Artistic director of Hamilton You Poets, Nea Reid, watched the poetry slam online with teaching assistants Amani Omar and Tanya Pineda in the organization's James Street studio. 

Pineda said, "what resonates with me about Eddie's poems is his conversations about family, which is something I return to and key concepts that I go back to."

"There is always something in his poems that inspires you to look within and out," said Omar. "His poems are personal but at the same time very relatable with universal concepts which connect people the most."

Lartey also won the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam earlier this year, beating out 16 other poets nationwide. 

Reid says "He's definitely a love poet — loves to talk about love — his poems tend to bring to light Black excellence, community… and stories about Hamilton."

Lartey said he will be visiting an Indigenous community while he's in Brazil to take part in a cultural exchange with local communities and then perform for high school students in São Paulo.

"I plan to not let this title just be an individual accomplishment but one where I can use it to inspire others and hopefully have future generations of winners come from Hamilton as well."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.