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For Emilie Zoey Baker, poetry and education are not just a career—they’re a passion. In addition to her work as a poet and slam champion, Emilie is the Creative Director of OutLoud, an exciting youth poetry slam competition that challenges young people to explore their creative potential and perform their ideas on stage. OutLoud has become one of the most important platforms for young voices in Victoria, inspiring students to be part of something bigger than themselves.
As the host of Better Off Said, an internationally acclaimed spoken word event, Emilie has seen firsthand how spoken word has the power to change lives—and she’s determined to bring that magic into classrooms across the world. She is also a celebrant for Marry Your Friends, a unique initiative that celebrates love, friendship, and creativity, blending the personal and the poetic in fun and memorable ways.
Her work spans across schools, festivals, and literary programs, and she’s been a lead educator with Australian Poetry Ltd, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Melbourne Writers Festival.
How Poetry Slam Can Revolutionise Your Classroom: A Conversation with Emilie Zoey Baker
In the world of poetry, there’s one form that stands out for its energy, engagement, and student-centered learning: slam poetry. A captivating blend of performance, creativity, and social commentary, slam poetry can bring literacy, expression, and critical thinking into your classroom in ways that traditional poetry often cannot.
Emilie Zoey Baker, a world-renowned poetry slam champion, educator, and Creative Director of OutLoud—Victoria’s premier youth slam competition—is one of the leading voices in making poetry accessible, exciting, and deeply impactful for young learners. With years of experience working with students across primary and secondary schools, Emilie’s approach isn’t just about reading poems—it’s about giving students the tools to find their voice, think critically, and perform with confidence.
Poetry has the power to unlock creativity and self-expression, but slam poetry takes it a step further by combining both writing and performance into a dynamic, immersive experience for students.
Here’s why slam poetry works so well in the classroom:
I’ve been a waitress, a waitress dressed as a wench, a bar hand and a record shop girl. I’ve been a bunny, a tiger, an aeroplane (a soft one) and a clown. (No really, I can ride a unicycle and everything.) I’m an award winning face-painter and body artist and once I stood in the middle of the MCG dressed as a lion balancing on a giant inflatable ball.
My motto is ‘Children should be seen and heard, OUTLOUD!’ I’m passionate about bringing poetry into the classroom in a fun, exciting and unexpected way and introducing slam to teenagers.
I talk about feminism, cyber bullying, advertising, Australian culture and those blow-up dancing men you see out the front of car-washes
Winning the Berlin International Slam, having my poetry translated and published in the Moscow Times, meeting David Attenborough (he has a copy of my book), performing in Paris, Indonesia, New Zealand, England, At the Bowery Poetry club in NYC, The Green Mill in Chicago and winning the Nimbin Performance Poetry Cup.
On the side of Melbourne’s trains, in journals such as Going Down Swinging, Cordite, Schriftstelle (Germany) and Short Fuse (US), Rudomino Book Centre, Moscow and poems inspired by the films of David Lynch in the collections We Don’t Stop Here and A Slice of Cherry Pie (The Private Press, UK & US).
Yeah, I’m pretty famous (blows on nails). But if you haven’t seen me yet, here are some places you can get an idea of what I’m all about:
I have a major life-long crush on David Bowie.
Emile Zoey Baker’s online presentation was thoroughly engaging. She was positive and brimming with energy and her ability to connect and inspire our students a masterclass in online engagement. Right from the moment she appeared on our screens, she was captivating. Emilie offered stories, videos clips and photos of student work and shared her expertise in slam poetry. She then offered our students an opportunity to write their own works of art along with an opportunity to share. She held space for each student who was brave enough to share and found something valuable in each of their work. I cannot wait to have her back at our school next year, and I know that it doesn’t matter if it is face to face, or online, all of our students will love the session.
Emilie did a series of online workshops for our Year 8 students. The purpose was to give create a space for creative exploration after a long period of classes online. It was an easy process to liaise with Emilie and discuss what we wanted for the students. Each hour long workshop was carefully structured, taking the students step-by-step to a completed poem. Emilie encouraged them to participate and to contribute their ideas and poems to the group to which she gave positive and thoughtful feedback. All the students participated, many produced interesting, insightful and thoughtful poems which they uploaded as videos. Feedback from students and participating teachers was enthusiastic. I was really impressed with the ways that she encouraged the students to feel confident and express themselves. The workshops were excellent and recommend Emilie to anyone wanting to encourage students to expand their creative horizons.
Emilie was great with the Year 5/6 students and very engaging.
The feedback was all positive, both from teachers and the students.
Thanks for recommending her. I wouldn’t have thought of a slam poet for Book Week otherwise.
Most loved the concept of slam poetry and would have followed up their interest by researching online or finding out about places to view this performance art. Thank you Zoey Emilie Baker for being so receptive, informative and entertaining.
Emilie Zoey Baker, the poet, was absolutely spot on for our year 5 group. She really enthused them about poetry, which is exactly what we wanted. Her slideshow was really funny and at exactly the right level. So, AWESOME!!
Students are now really keen on the ‘spoken word’ through the efforts of Emilie and SLAM POETRY. Emilie is a genius at getting young people enthused. Teachers, students and audiences were enthralled. It has been a real privilege to have Emilie come to Mount Beauty & share her love of the Spoken Word. Local secondary college teacher is now so enthusiastic she is planning to take students to Melbourne SLAM events etc. I’m so pleased to hear that there will be spin-offs from the workshops and student performances.