Leyla has been writing poetry since 2013. A friend asked her to come along to an open mic night and perform some of her work that she had written for theatre, not realising it could be defined as poetry. She had never been to a spoken word night but she fell in love with how quickly things could be shared and the community that came with it.

She started competing in slams and came first in the UK National Slam at The Royal Albert Hall 2014. She then won The Commonwealth Slam in the same year and The Loud Poets Grand Slam 2016. She was a finalist in the Roundhouse Slam 2017 and runner up for The Scottish Championships 2018. She has been lucky enough to perform her poetry in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Canada and in The US.

Her book In Public/In Private is her first collection of poems. The book was supported by Creative Scotland and she was been mentored by Kim Addonizio through the process.

Leyla won the 2024 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem Performed with her poem Dear John Berger. You can watch the winning video here.

Leyla has been on the same bill as Kae Tempest, Hollie McNish and Lowkey. She has performed for the First Minister of Scotland and supported John Cooper Clarke on his Scottish tour.

She has been featured on BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio 4, BBC The Social, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, Upworthy, The Herald, The National and The Scotsman.

Leyla released her book Hopeless with Speculative Books which is a documentation of her solo show of the same name.

She has poems in Untitled 3 curated by Neu! Reekie!, Gutter Magazine, The Centenary Collection for Edwin Morgan, Choice Words: Writers On Abortions alongside the likes Margaret Atwood, Audre Lorde and Gloria Steinem.

Leyla’s poems Good with our hands and Prestwick Airport were named in Scottish Poetry Library’s Best Scottish Poems 2020 and 2022.

Her live poetry album ‘Archive:Live!’ is available on all streaming sites.