Have you ever wanted to compete in a poetry slam in the character of a dead poet? Here's your chance!

If you want to apply to perform in the Dead Poets' slam on 2 December 2026 at Typewronger Books, read on! (Please note we only have room for 6 poets to perform, so may not be able to accept everyone who applies.)

Performer signup closes: Wednesday 28 October, 9pm

Notifications sent: by Sunday 8 November

Performance: Wednesday 2 December, 7-9pm.

You will need to choose a dead poet to perform as. This can be any poet, so long as they are dead, and you can perform poetry in their native language or in an English translation. The point of the slam is that you are the embodiment of this dead poet, bringing them back to life for one event only. Props and costumes are encouraged!

Judging will be on a) how well you embody the dead poet and b) the quality of your poetic performance. You will not be judged on the quality of the poetry itself (or else William McGonagall would never have a chance!) or on personal/physical qualities you can't control (i.e. if you are 5'3" and performing as Sylvia Plath, you won't be judged for being significantly shorter than she was).

Performers are guaranteed to perform in the first two rounds (a/k/a Glasgow Rules). The three highest-scoring performers will then perform in the final round.

The time limit is three minutes in each round. You are free to preamble/talk to the audience as much as you want, but you must perform some poetry as part of the round. That poetry can be a small section from a longer work, or several short pieces, or one single poem - whatever works for you.

We are deeply grateful to Typewronger Books for providing the event space and handling all the ticketing and tech stuff. [Audience tickets will be available soon at the Typewronger Books event page.]

More information available at the signup link!

For further information, please contact writingmostly@gmail.com, or visit https://forms.gle/Ui2gvZvjNLcndHKR8

The deadline is Wednesday 28 October 2026 at 21:00.