Roundhouse reopens its doors for THE LAST WORD 2021

The Roundhouse in London has announced that it will be re-opening its doors just in time for The Last Word Festival, and celebrating 15 years of Roundhouse Poetry Slam!

The Last Word 2021 will return with a star line-up including best-selling author Candice Carty-Williams, award-winning playwright Inua Ellams and Young People’s Laureate for London, Cecilia Knapp.  The show will be staged from Saturday 24 – Saturday 31 July and will tell some of the boldest stories. 

Candice Carty-Williams will join the judging panel, with a host of young Spoken Word artists competing for the coveted title of Slam Champion. The Last Word Festival will also feature Letters Live, live podcast recordings and performances from Roundhouse Resident Artists. 

The Roundhouse Poetry Slam Final will be held on 29 July and is one of the most anticipated events in the festival. The artists who compete through three national heats have the opportunity to win a cash prize for their original work. The audience will be both in person and virtual and will be able to cast their votes for the Slam Champion and Audience Winner. 

Letters Live - inspired by Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note series and Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, will be a celebration of the enduring power of literacy correspondence on 28 July. Award-winning Inua Ellams will present Search Party on 31 July and will use audience interaction to perform a one-off improvised poetry set. 

CEO and artistic director of Roundhouse, Marcus Davey, said: “We cannot wait to throw open the doors of the Roundhouse once again to welcome artists, audiences and our team back into the building. I couldn't think of a better occasion to mark this special moment than The Last Word Festival. The past year has been like nothing we've ever experienced before, in our sector and in wider society, and this festival celebrates the most vital voices from our capital to reignite our live programme, which continue to progress important conversations whilst celebrating creativity. I’ll be on the front row of every performance, I cannot wait.”

The festival will make use of the entire venue and in the bar and café, 2020 New Poets Prize winner Gboyega Odubanjo will launch his pamphlet entitled Aunty Uncle Poems on 24 July, which is a Nigerian celebration that documents the aunties, uncles, cousins for whom London has become home. 

Ahead of the festival, the Roundhouse Poetry Slam Heats will take place over Zoom from 6-8 July. There will be the return of Cecilia Knapp who started out as a member of the Poetry Collective at the Roundhouse, and has now come full circle and will be a tutor for the Poetry Collective, offering a captivating online conversation on 25 July.

Further information and ticket booking is available here.