2025 Kay Mellor Fellowship

Applications are now closed for the 2025 Kay Mellor Fellowship.

Yorkshire playwrights are being offered the career-boosting opportunity to become the next Kay Mellor Fellow. Leeds Playhouse and Rollem Productions are once again joining forces to support new writing in Yorkshire, continuing the legacy of Kay Mellor. Key additional investment from the BBC and Leeds City Council shows an ongoing commitment from the four institutions in supporting culture and talent in the North.

Writers based in Yorkshire are being invited to apply for a paid, year-long fellowship which will see them working with Leeds Playhouse and Rollem Productions, alongside a place on the prestigious BBC Writers Voices programme, which will help them to hone their skills in stage and screen as well as gaining on-the-ground industry knowledge through a range of workshops, masterclasses, panels and industry talks.

Kirsty Taylor is the 2024 Fellow

Through her poetry, spoken word and playwriting, Kirsty has always been a champion of her home city of Bradford, showcasing and giving voice to its unheard stories. During her time with Rollem, Leeds Playhouse and BBC Writers, Kirsty has been exploring stories of adoption and severance from the perspective of birth families, working with local birth mother groups to research and develop both a play and TV pitch which tells the stories of how and why children get taken into care, with authenticity, intricacy and integrity.

Kat Rose Martin was the inaugural Fellow in 2020

Kat's time as part of the programme allowed her to develop her play, Cheap as Chips, which was since been fully commissioned by Leeds Playhouse with support from the Writers' Guild New Play Commission Scheme. In 2020, she was part of the BBC Writers Voices development programme and, in 2021, was selected for Sky Comedy Rep, a writers' scheme with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Sky.

Kat reflected that the fellowship was a unique and life changing opportunity, allowing her to develop her writing for both TV and theatre.

The Kay Mellor Fund

In addition to the Fellowship, Leeds Playhouse have created The Kay Mellor fund which will enable them to invest further in developing northern writers. As a UK registered charity (255640), the Playhouse relies on donations to make work and support artists and communities.

All donations to The Kay Mellor Fund will go directly to supporting writers at Leeds Playhouse.

For more information and to donate click here.