An odd August story slam at the Haven Social Club

By Mathew White

EDMONTON — An unusually small crowd made their way into the Haven Social Club Wednesday night for the August session of the Edmonton Story Slam Society.

Only seven out of a possible 10 writers braved the stage, in a night that had stories both morbid and hilarious.  Whether it was homicidal nurses from Winnipeg or waging a war against mosquitoes and garlic, there was no telling where the next story would take the audience.

For the majority of the first half Shilo Neveu held onto first place with a travel tale involving lava-shower water.  But right before the break, Liam Shaw took a commanding lead with a story about a man carrying an unfortunate last name.

Shaw came close to losing the lead when Adam Snider delivered the last story of the night – which was about a man who improperly disposed of porno – but Shaw held on by a margin of less than one point.

“This is the largest prize I’ve ever won,” said Shaw after accepting his $128 cash prize.  “For a guy that’s got the mice and the cockroaches in his apartment, shit man, that’s a lot of food.”

This is Shaw’s second time reading at the story slam, but he’s no stranger to the trade.  He started going to story and poetry slams years ago while living in Ireland.  He said he also recently came in second place during a story slam at the Blue Chair Cafe here in Edmonton.

Although he’s had one story published, Shaw by no means considers himself a professional writer.  He said he just does it for fun.

“I’ve been published once but I didn’t get paid for it, so it doesn’t completely count,” said Shaw.

Wednesday night’s winning story was called “My Struggle (Not in German)”, and although it may have seemed like a true story, Shaw said it wasn’t.  He did, however, use certain locations and aspects of his life in the story.

“I tried to make it as realistic as possible,” said Shaw.

Listen to Liam Shaw’s Story, My Struggle (Not in German)

AugustStorySlam by westedmontonlocal

Edmonton Story Slam

The Edmonton Story Slam Society is an organization that gives local writers a chance to share their work with a live audience.  The rules of the competition are as follows:

• Each writer has five minutes
• For every ten seconds over the limit, 0.5 points is deducted
• Story must be original and unpublished
• Five judges each give a score out of 10 and an average is taken from the middle three scores
• Contestants must be present when their name is called or they’re disqualified
• Contestants are gonged after seven minutes
• Audience members are asked to donate towards the first-place prize

The next story slam is scheduled for September 21.