British Sign Language meets spoken word, a slide show and found poem comprised entirely of book spines, and two poet laureates – one former, one current – with their own shows are among the poetry and spoken word highlights at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe from 5-29 August, the largest arts festival in the world.

Write Out Loud has picked some of the shows it likes the look of from the official Edinburgh Fringe programme. Please note, it's just our selection. We don’t pretend this is an exhaustive list of what is going on, in and around the Fringe.

Right in the heart of Edinburgh are 120 miles of underground shelves that store the National Library of Scotland’s collection of 24 million things. Graeme Hawley (performance poet, slam winner and general collections manager at the library) presents The Joy of Spines, a slide show and found poem, comprised entirely of book spines.

We were also intrigued by Donna Williams aka DeafFirefly, pictured, who promises to perform poetry in both BSL and in English, in some cases at the same time.  

Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and her musical collaborator John Sampson return following sell-out shows in 2015, while former Scottish laureate, or makar, Liz Lochhead in A Show of Two Halves will be accompanied by the witty, soulful saxophone of Steve Kettley.

London spoken word night Boomerang Club will be in Edinburgh, with confirmed feature acts including Harry Baker, Rob Auton, Paula Varjack, Dan Simpson, Maria Ferguson, Paul Cree, Katie Bonna, Sarah Hirsch, Fay Roberts, and Hannah Chutzpah, plus hosts Jake Wild Hall, Joel Auterson, Tyrone Lewis, and Chris Lawrence. There’s open mic – just show up!

London's stand-up poetry night Rhymes With Orange returns, fresh from last year's sell-out run, described as a “noisy, disgustingly fun performance poetry extravaganza”, while Poetry Can F*ck Off charts the great resistance movements from the Peasants’ Revolt to Occupy Wall Street. Over 80 poets are referenced, including Shelley, Ginsberg, Angelou, and Pussy Riot.

The Glummer Twins are billed as “stand-up poetry from the beat generation”. Thirty years after they first appeared together with the legendary Circus of Poets, David Harmer and Ray Globe are back to put the 21st century to rights. “Two old blokes. One guitar. Trainspotters, funeral etiquette, ageing mods, seventies nightclubs, turning 60 (and taking it badly), buying a car from a dodgy dealer in Doncaster, and middle class elderly rappers.”

Legendary radical performance poet Attila the Stockbroker brings his acclaimed autobiography Arguments Yard (Cherry Red Books) to life on stage. This show is full of stuff you simply couldn't make up, from a night as Donny Osmond's understudy to being offered a tour of Pyongyang while performing in 1980s East Berlin.

Meanwhile stand-up poet Dan Simpson focuses his high-speed fuzzy logic on the screens and machines that rule over our lives. As the robots rise and deep learning AIs threaten to take over the world, can humanity survive in a world of cutting-edge technology? 

The slam-style Loud Poets feature the best spoken word artists from Scotland and beyond performing with a live band.

On the other hand Mike Garry Men’s Morning is a tale of city life based in a council leisure centre, documenting the lives of a close-knit group of men who meet every Friday and use sport and conversation as an antidote to city living

For something completely different, The Sommelier of Poetry offers a poetry menu, wandering nonchalantly to your table to perform classical and contemporary poetry. The poems can be heard in their original language or you may request an English translation. Performances last from five to 30 minutes, according to your wishes.

Fay Roberts’s solo show The Selkie navigates a modern mythological sea voyage of poetry and music, while The Shaken and the Stirred features four Canadian poets - Ian Burgham, Catherine Graham, Steven Heighton and Jeanette Lynes.

And last, but certainly not least – if  you’re looking for something quieter and more reflective, why not try Awhile with Seamus Heaney, a journey by Irish actor/director Larry McCluskey through the late Nobel poet’s best and most popular work, a dramatic reading, with linking commentary and live music.