麻豆社

Radio 4's Radio 4's 2009 Poetry Slam kicked off with performance poets competing in heats all round Britain for a place in the semi-finals, the first of which was held at The Bluecoat in Liverpool and hosted by popular poetry performer, slammer and former Poet Laureate of Birmingham, Dreadlock Alien. The competition was fierce, the energy high and the rhymes came thick and fast as nine poets battled it out for a place in the final. They were: Ash Dickinson, Harry Giles, Mark Madden, Ben Mellor, James Oates, Abby Oliveira, Scott Tyrell, Sohia Walker and Michael Wilson.

A slam is a knockout performance poetry competition in which poets perform their own work to a time limit and are given scores based on content, style, delivery and level of audience response. In the space of two minutes, performers must demonstrate their word-play, performance skills and inventiveness; over two or three rounds, poets are knocked out until one top scorer emerges as the winner. Slams attract a wide range of performers and styles, from heartfelt love poetry to searing social commentary, uproarious comic routines, and bittersweet personal confessional pieces.