Combating voice poverty through spoken word poetry : an interview with Candy Royalle

Abstract

Spoken word poetry is recognised as a potent means of enabling young people to express themselves and explore their vulnerability. Based on an interview with the Australian poet Candy Royalle, this article examines her views in relation to spoken word poetry’s capacity to combat voice poverty in young people. Royalle stresses the importance of embedding spoken word poetry in young people’s education in order for them to accrue its benefits. This entails paying more attention to the kind of poetry that is included in the curriculum, and to the development of teachers’ and students’ engagement with the genre.