10 March 2025
Leeds student Ellie Rose Amit will get the chance to showcase their talents to a global audience next month after winning the Leeds heat of the prestigious Roundhouse Poetry Slam, in partnership with Taylor Wessing, on Friday night.
The heat, which is open to UK-based poets aged 18-25, drew 12 writers from all over West Yorkshire and the north of England to Leeds to celebrate the power of spoken word and the city’s vibrant creative scene.
Ellie, who is studying theatre at the University of Leeds, won over a three-strong judging panel of highly-acclaimed poets and performers – Jason Allen-Paisant, Maria Ferguson and Maureen Onwunali – at Hyde Park Book Club on Friday night.
They now move onto the national Roundhouse Poetry Slam Final on Thursday 17 April where they will perform their work live in person and in front of a global online audience.
This year marks the 20th edition of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, one of the most respected poetry slams in the UK. Ellie will join other finalists from last week’s Liverpool heat and those upcoming in London, Bristol and online to perform at the Poetry Slam Final as part of Roundhouse Three Sixty, a brand-new festival of
music and culture.
The Final will be broadcast live on the Roundhouse YouTube channel by young creatives participating in the Roundhouse Behind the Lens course in live TV broadcast and content creation.
Ellie Rose Amit, winner of the Leeds heat of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam at Hyde Park Book Club, said: “I’m very happy and very surprised. I’ve performed at Hyde Park Book Club a couple of times. It was calm out there. It was nice – the crowd was very good. There is an air of competition but it is actually very supportive and everyone is genuinely rooting for you. It’s really nice. I am quite nervous about the final. I have watched the final the past few years. The standard for the heat was one thing but the standard in London will be crazy.”
Matt Abbott, a poet from Wakefield and the host of the Leeds heat of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, said: “It was phenomenal. The poets were all breathtakingly good. Watching from the side of the stage, you really felt the energy in the room. I was anxious introducing them because there is so much invested in it but it was a pleasure to host.
“I have been staging spoken word events at Hyde Park Book Club for about ten years. It is a real community hub. To host this event, of this calibre, at Hyde Park Book Club means a lot. As a poet, the Roundhouse Slam is one of the first things you look to. It is how you educate yourself, it is how you discover new voices – it is our Oscars.
“Leeds is really vibrant, it has got a thriving grassroots scene – there is a real diversity and really supportive community. Leeds is one of the best places in the north right now – and we’ve got the National Poetry Centre coming as well, which is very exciting.”