Whoop whoop! It’s almost Edinburgh Fringe time, and I am hugely excited that DorkyDad has been asked to compere the BBC Poetry Slam again.

The Slam took place for the first time last year, and it was an absolutely brilliant line-up of poets, but this year it’s EVEN BETTER! (It’s actually a bit ridiculous how good it is.) This year it will feature the 2011 BBC Slam Champion, Catherine Brogan; Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead in her first ever Slam competition; and a special guest appearance from the 2012 Paris World Champion, Harry Baker.

24 of the best performance poets in the UK – 12 women and 12 men – will compete for the BBC Poetry Slam title. It will take place over five evenings – with six poets taking part each night for the first four nights, and then a grand final on the last night featuring the winner of each heat. Full details are below – it would be fantastic to see a supportive audience along for this, so please feel free to share.

BBC Slam Poetry at the Edinburgh Fringe at the BBC Venue, Potterrow 

Monday August 2oth – Thursday August 23rd, 5pm

Friday August 24^th, 7.30pm

Compere: Young Dawkins

Monday, 20 August, 5pm: Rachel McCrum, Michael Pederson, Fay Roberts, Robin Cairns, JL Williams and George ‘Super Bard’ Lewkowicz

Tuesday, 21 August, 5pm: Camilla Chen, Graeme Hawley, Liz Lochhead, Tim Turnbull, Viv Gee and Matt McDonald

Wednesday, 22 August, 5pm: Sophia Walker, Colin McGuire, Elspeth Murray, Jim Monaghan, Jenny Lindsay and Bram Gieben

Thursday, 23 August, 5pm: Cat Brogan, Dan Simpson, Fiona Lindsay, Pete the Temp, Anne Connolly and Ross Sutherland

Friday 24 August, 7.30pm: GRAND FINAL

Even the judges are brilliant. Kevin Cadwallender is the 2012 Scottish Slam Champion. Eleanor Livingstone is the organizer of StAnza, one of Europe’s most important poetry festivals. Emma Turnbull from Creative Scotland is an experienced observer of the poetry scene in Scotland and beyond. Hannah McGill (Monday night only) is a serious force in Scotland’s creative and artistic community.

Each night will begin with a performance from a ‘sacrificial poet’ who does not actually compete in the slam, but who is awarded a score by the judges in order to calibrate their judging. The sacrificial poets are Rose Fraser (Monday), Rachel Amey (Tuesday), Harry Baker (Wednesday), Harry Giles (Thursday) and Kevin Cadwallender (Friday).

The events are free but ticketed. All tickets are available on the BBC website.

There is a Facebook page for the event here if you want to mark your attendance and share with friends.

Bring on the poetry!