Spoken in Stuttgart

Readings, lectures, travel reports, poetry slam & comedy in Stuttgart

Stuttgart has an institution that hardly exists anywhere else in Germany: an academy for spoken word. That alone says everything about this city and its relationship to language, voice and the courage to say things out loud. So if you think spoken word is a niche topic for a few enthusiasts, you should spend an evening in this city and see for yourself. The Stuttgarter Sprechstation has been performing poetry slams in the city for over 20 years, playing several venues at once: The Rosenau, which is considered the home stage of the Stuttgart poetry slam, regularly hosts evenings where poetry, rap, cabaret, storytelling, beatboxing, comedy and spoken word come together under one roof. What takes to the stage is different every time, and that's exactly the point. If you want even more word power on even more space, Im Wizemann is the place to be, where the Best of Poetry Slam regularly brings together the best poets in the German-speaking world and shows what happens when language becomes a stage performance. For readings and literary discussions of a somewhat curated nature, the Literaturhaus Stuttgart is a permanent fixture in the city's event calendar. Around 120 events a year speak for themselves, from book reviews and author talks to writing workshops and lecture series on social issues that show that literature is not afraid of the present. Also worth a look is the Stuttgarter Schriftstellerhaus, which has been offering readings, conferences and writing workshops as a meeting place for authors from Stuttgart and the region since 1983, making it a place where the spoken and written word are still closely linked. Stuttgart is also home to one of the most active slam networks in the south-west, as evidenced by the fact that the state poetry slam championships are always held here, in venues such as the Schauspiel Stuttgart or the Junges Ensemble. You don't have to be a slam fan to get your money's worth here. You just have to go once, listen and see what happens when someone takes to a stage with a self-written text and lets the audience decide whether he or she wins the evening. Spoiler: You'll probably be back.