Steel City Slam’s annual Grand Slam

For the past year, dozens of poets throughout the Pittsburgh area competed to qualify for Steel City Slam’s annual Grand Slam competition. Steel City Slam, the city’s adult poetry-slam league, has been hosting competitions since the mid-1990s. The group is now part of the Pittsburgh Poetry Collective, an organization that provides a space for self-expression, identity exploration and social justice, through spoken-word leagues, performances and community writing workshops. Tonight, 14 people will compete for a shot at the 2018 title. The winner will receive a cash prize and the right to represent Pittsburgh at the National Poetry Slam in Chicago. -Rebecca Addison