2014 Edinburgh Fringe

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Mark Grist and MC Mixy return to Edinburgh Fringe to battle. Their backup? An assortment of famous (and very dead) poets. It's fast, it's frantic and they have no idea who will win.

Fancy seeing Sylvia Plath take on Ted Hughes? How about Rabbie Burns up against Byron? In the Dead Poets Death Match you'll choose the competitors and you'll be the ones who'll crown the winner. There can only be one: let the wordy bloodbath begin!

Mark Grist performs as one half of Dead Poets with MC Mixy, a double act fusing spoken word with hip-hop, earning a string of excellent reviews at Edinburgh Festival in 2010. Since forming in 2008, Mark and Mixy have been challenging the preconceptions of poetry and hiphop across the country. As 'Dead Poets,' they have performed in venues ranging from nightclubs to secondary schools; from festivals to formal dinners, they also appeared on Radio 6 Live with Steve Merchant.

The 'Jamie Oliver' of poetry catapulted into the spotlight in 2012 when a video of Mark effortlessly defeating teenage grime artist MC Blizzard in a rap battle, went viral. Since then, Mark has not only notched up 4m hits on YouTube, making his the most-viewed UK rap battle of all time, but was poised to make his TV debut in new Channel 4 series Mr Drew's School For Boys which aired in the spring of this year.

Mark became Poet Laureate of Peterborough in 2008, Chief Bard of the Fens in 2009, and Edinburgh Fringe Slam Champion in 2010. When he's not out on the road, Mark still manages to make it into the classroom as an educational consultant.

Mixy is a rapper turned poet. Writing and performing from a young age he went from freestyle rap battling on street corners and storming open mics in dingy nightclubs, to performing poetry in theatres. In 2010 Mixy won the title 'East Midlands King Of The Mic' 'Speakeasy Slam Champ' and 'Poet Laureate Of Peterborough' (the youngest person to ever do so). His solo show 'Content' received rave reviews at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival. Since then he has completed commissions for Newsnight, BBC Three's Free Speech, Oxfam's 'just one book' campaign and his work has also featured in The Guardian. Mixy keeps his skills versatile still writing, freestyling and performing both poetry and rap to a range of audiences around the country. Though not as viewed as Mark, Mixy boasts one of the best records in leading UK battle league 'Don't Flop'.