Poetry Zone ZA is a poetry development agency focused on improving the quality of spoken word poetry in South Africa, one word at a time. We launched the Poetry Zone ZA Academy and the Brave Spoken Youth Poetry Mentorship program as an urgent response to the lack of poetry development institutions and platforms that enable poets to unlock their full potential. Our mission is to develop programs that allow for the discovery of new poetic voices while creating opportunites for industry engagement to bridge the gap between emerging spoken word artists and experienced industry practitioners.