Yorkshire Poets Society with Kirsty Taylor and slam-style open-mic

The Yorkshire Poets Society are taking over The Attic on Tuesday 17 November, with Kirsty Taylor headlining a night that blends a featured performance with a slam-style open mic. It runs from 6:00 to 9:30 PM, so it's an early start that carries on well into the evening.

Kirsty Taylor is a writer and educator whose poetry and performance tell stories of people, class and community. She started Front Room Poetry and wrote Cashy C's: The Musical. In 2024 she was awarded the Kay Mellor Fellowship, and in 2025 she opened Bradford's City of Culture with her words, dramaturgy and performance in Rise, which played to more than 20,000 people. Her work is rooted in the local and the lived, and this is her headline spot on the night.

After her set, the evening shifts to a slam-style open mic: five contenders, five minutes each, hosted by Jack Collins and Carla Mellor. It's a competitive format rather than a standard open mic, so you'll get five distinct voices in a row. The whole thing is put on by the Yorkshire Poets Society, and the night rounds off with a networking session for introverts, pitched by the hosts themselves.

It's all at The Attic, 3 Sheaf Street, Leeds LS10 1HD, on Tuesday 17 November from 6:00 to 9:30 PM. Just a heads-up that there are no refunds on tickets.