Ireland’s first – and only – spoken word festival, Lingo, returned to Dublin for its second consecutive year last weekend.

The festival saw a number of notable performers exhibiting their skills at a variety of locations during the three day event.

Celebrated Los Angeles based performer Saul Williams was at the top of the bill with a show at the Button Factory on Sunday evening. Support on the night was provided by Dublin-based poet John Cummins, as well as UK-based teacher Mark Grist who caused a stir back in 2011 with a “Teacher vs Student” rap battle for the Don’t Flop battle collective.

Culture journalist for the Irish Independent, Clara Rose Thornton, who is also a spoken word artist, performed at The Meeting House at 11.30am on Saturday morning. Talking about the LINGO festival on Twitter, Ms. Thornton said: “Lingo celebrates us and an awakened ritual. Ancients of Africa and the Celtic nations are dancing in their graves.”

Festival goers also got the chance to see the legendary London band Tongue Fu provide improvised instrumentals for ten of Ireland’s top slam poets and spoken word artists. This opening event also saw last year’s Lingo poet laureate, the aforementioned John Cummins, pass the torch to his successor, John Moynes.

A number of interesting performances also took place at the Smock Alley Theatre over the course of the weekend, including a showcase of Ireland’s most talented up and coming spoken word artists on Saturday. The Theatre described the event as a glimpse at the future of spoken word.

With over fifty performers from a number of different countries set to take the stage in the city over the weekend, the second installment of the LINGO festival was most definitely an exciting one.