21 March 2025
After an incredible performance in front of a sold-out crowd at the Bristol Beacon, Bristol poet Chloe Giles will advance to the Final of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, in partnership with Taylor Wessing.
Chloe won over judges and esteemed poets Malaika Kegode, Dizraeli, Maureen Onwunali, and will now perform her work in the iconic main space in London’s Roundhouse at the Slam Final on Thursday 17 April.
This year marks the 20th edition of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, one of the most respected poetry slams in the UK. Chloe and the other finalists from heats in Liverpool, Leeds, London and online will perform at the 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.
Chloe Giles, winner of the Bristol heat for the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, said: “I’m feeling numb with excitement to have won my first ever Slam. I’ve performed poetry before, but this was my first time at a Slam and it was different from what I’m used to. I’m used to a lot of rhyming and barring and a lot of rhythm, and this was a lot of raw vulnerability. It was quite intense, very vulnerable, so a lot of processing other people’s poems and then performing my own.
“I’m so excited to go and rep Bristol at the Final. It’s been a dream of mine to perform at Roundhouse since I started performing poetry.”
Danny Carlo Pandolfi, poet and host of the Bristol heat for the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, said: “The Bristol heat was an incredible night. It was an absolute pleasure to see nine poets compete with completely different styles, completely different stories to tell. There was so much love and energy from the crowd, it was a proper Bristol slam night.
“Bristol is an amazing hub for arts and creativity. It makes sense that it’s got one of the best poetry scenes in the country, probably in Europe. It’s a brilliant city for poetry. It’s got this rich tradition of poetry, writing, progressive values. Dating back to the Romantic poets in the 18th and 19th centuries, with Thomas Chatterton talking about environmentalism and nature, all the way through to the Slam scene in the 90s, all the way through to today where there’s loads of regular events, open mics, buzzing crowds, buzzing events. Bristol’s an amazing city for poetry as we got to witness from these amazing slammers.”
The winners of the heats – three regional, three in London and one online – will be joined by the three highest-scoring runners-up from across all seven heats at the final.
The 2025 Roundhouse Poetry Slam finalists are:
Aditya Narayan (Liverpool heat)
Eli Amit (Leeds heat)
Shermya Modupe (London heat)
Sky Frances (London heat)
Thomas Egbujie (London heat)
Chloe Giles (Bristol heat)
Nathalia Khawand (Online heat)
Isobel (Biz) Bond (Leeds heat)
Astrid Solace (Bristol heat)
Flo Cornall (Online heat)