Marc Kelly Smith

Chicago born and bred, Marc Kelly Smith is the creator/founder of what has become an international phenomenon, the Poetry Slam. As stated in the PBS television series, The United States of Poetry, a “strand of new poetry began at Chicago’s Green Mill Tavern in 1987 when Marc Smith found a home for the Uptown Poetry Slam. Since then, performance poetry has spread throughout the world exported to over 1000 cities large and small. In 2021 he was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by Madame Roselyne Bachelor, ambassador to the French Ministry of Cultural and has received the key to the city of Tours where the Ligue de Slam France established the La Maison de Slam dedicated to the origins of Poetry Slam. In 2023, he performed in Portugal as an honored guest at their 9th year celebration of Slam and in Brazil at the 15th year Anniversary of poetry slam there. The Uptown Poetry Slam continues every third Sunday of the month, still playing to full houses. Marc’s current project is “Thru the Mill” a podcast recounting the early history of slam in Chicago.