Best of Poetry Slam Iserlohn — Südwestfalen-Special

Poetry Slam in Iserlohn — Four heavyweights from the German-speaking world

A Poetry Slam is a literary competition where poets perform self-written texts — usually with dramatic performance, socio-political commentary, humor, and wordplay. The audience decides the winner by scoring. Best of Poetry Slam is a touring format that brings together the best slam poets from the German-speaking world — and the Iserlohn Südwestfalen-Special on April 15, 2026, is the Märkisch variant of this format.

Jan Schmidt — the mastermind

The organizer and host is Jan Schmidt — a well-known slam poet and comedian himself. Schmidt hosts the NDR Comedy Contest, performs on the biggest German-speaking slam stages, and describes himself as a "phenomenon and clown". His hosting is part of the show — his own performance between the slam poets' sets adds extra points and a refreshing break between the competitive pieces. For many Iserlohn slam fans, Schmidt himself is the reason they book the event.

Four top slam poets plus a guest from the region

The competition is held between four invited slam poets — each among the most famous and popular in the German-speaking scene (names will be announced in advance on the event website). In addition, there is a guest from the Märkischer Kreis who performs a piece written especially for the Iserlohn evening — a regional variation that makes the format a local version.

Comedy, Lyricism, Social Criticism, Slapstick

Slam poetry is a hybrid format: it combines comedy (humorous punchlines), lyricism (linguistic density and rhyming artistry), social criticism (socio-political commentary on topics like climate, diversity, politics), slapstick (visual and physical comedy), and storytelling (autobiographical and fictional narratives). The slam poets perform for about 5–7 minutes each — compact, intense, often with a punchline arc in the first and last lines.

The Parktheater Iserlohn — a stage with tradition

The Parktheater Iserlohn is located on the Alexanderhöhe in Iserlohn, a 20th-century neoclassical theater building with around 600 seats. In recent years, the stage has established itself as an important cultural venue in the Südwestfalen region — hosting slams, cabaret, theater, concerts, and dance. The acoustics are optimal for language-intensive formats like Poetry Slam — no microphone problems, clear intelligibility from all corners of the hall.

Iserlohn — Capital of the Märkischer Kreis

With just under 95,000 inhabitants, Iserlohn is the largest city in the Märkischer Kreis, located at the transition between the Ruhr area and the Sauerland. An industrial city with a tradition (iron, steel, mechanical engineering), it is increasingly significant culturally today. The city is the administrative seat of the Märkischer Kreis — hence the designation "Südwestfalen-Special" for the slam format, which explicitly incorporates the local connection to the region.

Südwestfalen — the literary province

In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Südwestfalen region is often culturally overshadowed by larger cities (Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund). However, in Iserlohn, Lüdenscheid, Hagen, and Arnsberg, there is a vibrant theater and slam scene. The "Südwestfalen-Special" is a deliberate regional marker — a show that not only "comes to Iserlohn" but marks Iserlohn as a cultural hub on the Südwestfalen slam calendar.