In honor of African-American Heritage Month, Omega Psi Phi fraternity is hosting a Langston Hughes poetry slam.

It will take place at 7:11 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15 in the Lumpkin Hall Auditorium, Room 2030.

Poetry slams are competitions in which poets read original works, and their performances are judged by the audience or a panel made up of audience members. Judges often give each poem a score on a scale of zero to 10, and the highest-scoring poets from each round move on to the next round.

Wednesday’s poetry slam is in honor of Langston Hughes, an African-American poet, a social activist, playwright and novelist. He was also among the first to use jazz rhythms and dialect to depict the life of urban blacks in his work.

The event is free and open to the public.

The News staff can be reached at 581-2812 or at dennewsdesk@gmail.com.