On Saturday, a sold-out Rotondes played host to some of the Grand Duchy’s finest lyrical wordsmiths, as nine contestants battled it out to be crowned national champion and secure qualification for the European Championships in Graz, Austria, this November.
The fifth edition of the Luxembourg Poetry Slam Championship was organised by the Rotondes and the Kulturhaus Niederanven in collaboration with the Géisskan Kollektiv, who successfully curated a gripping line-up. The three-hour show culminated in a final showdown, where three poets competed for the title, judged by members of the audience.
Preceding the final was a poetic interlude in which German poet Valo Christiansen impressed the crowd with a multilingual piece, weaving together at least seven different languages, famous song lyrics, and moments of song as she reflected on the idea of home.
Following a series of hotly contested rounds, the final three were selected and stepped forward for their moment to shine, with a place at the European Championships at stake. First to take the stage was the eventual winner, Franziska Peschel, who immediately won over the audience with a humorous take on quitting smoking and her self-deprecating relationship with sugar. Through fast-paced rhythms, tight rhymes, and sharply observed humour, she delivered a standout performance that earned her the highest score of the night.
Although her performance was crowned the winner, the subsequent readings continued to captivate the audience. Chris Lumu delivered a particularly striking piece, replicating the rhythm of his own heartbeat throughout the poem.
The final performance came from Laureena Mardini, a Syrian poet who read in English. She delivered a deeply sincere piece reflecting on her relationship with her home country and the process of coming to terms with her past.
Franziska Peschel was ultimately crowned the winner, but all nine contestants can take pride in their performances. Reading poetry in front of a sold-out crowd is an inherently exposing act, requiring vulnerability, confidence, and precision in equal measure. Over the course of the evening, each poet rose to the challenge, delivering work that displayed the breadth of Luxembourg’s slam poetry scene and leaving the audience with a strong sense of its creative depth.
