Come see my poetic friends Fiona Tinwei Lam and Kuldip Gill face-off in a poetry slam against other poets.

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PLAYING HARD*
CBC RADIO ANNOUNCES THE FOURTH ANNUAL NATIONAL POETRY FACE-OFF EVENT IN VANCOUVER
FEBRUARY 21 AT 8 PM AT CAFÉ DEUX SOLEILS

Poetic punches will fly during CBC Radio's fourth annual POETRY FACE-OFF.
This popular Canada-wide competition brings together 65 primed poets in 13 cities stretching from Vancouver to St. John's.

From January to March, five poets in each locale will face off before a live audience and deliver their words on this year's theme - "Play".  The  poets are commissioned by CBC producers to reflect local voices.  At each poetry event, the spectators vote for a favourite, and the winner goes on to compete in the national final on CBC Radio.

Vancouver's finest poets go word-to-word  Monday  February 21 at 8 pm at the Café Deux Soleils, 2096 Commercial Drive.   Margaret Gallagher of CBC Radio's The Early Edition hosts as poets  Barbara Adler,  Fiona Tinwei
Lam, Kuldip Gill, C.R. Avery and Ms. Spelt present their work.  The audience chooses the winner.  Admission is $5 and is part of the regular Monday night Vancouver poetry slam with slam master Graham Olds.  The Face-Off will
be broadcast February 26 on CBC Radio One's North by Northwest between
8:30 and 9 am.

April is National Poetry Month, so the final round of this poetic competition will air April 4 to 7 on CBC Radio One's The Roundup.   Listeners across the country will have a chance to hear all of the 13 finalists
and then vote for their favourite performance by calling a toll-free  telephone number (to be announced) or by logging onto our website. The grand  champion will be announced on April 14 on The Roundup.

CBC TV's Artspots will create short films of poems by some of the regional winners.

From its inception four years ago, CBC Radio's POETRY FACE-OFF has been a cross-country event. This year, face-offs are being held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal,
Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, St. John's and Yellowknife.

Listeners are invited to visit www.cbc.ca/poetryfaceoff for detailed information about each of the local poetry face-offs. The site will include interviews with participants as the events unfold.

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For further information, contact:
Joan Athey, CBC Communications
604-662-6605    joan_athey@cbc.ca