Spoken word artist Jenny Foulds captures her coming out – and the kindness of the strangers who helped her do so
BY DANIELLE MUSTARDE. IMAGE JENNY FOULDS
Scotland-born, London-based spoken word artist Jenny Foulds started writing and performing spoken word around two years ago, following a 10 year hiatus from performing.
“My spoken word can be described as ‘rambunctious and thought provoking late night tales of friendship, love and misbehaving’. It’s mostly comedy with a few heartfelt ones thrown in for good measure,” she told DIVA.
And the style of the poetry itself? “I would say it’s a mixture of slam poetry and storytelling with some silly singing thrown into the mix. I wrote 1996 for Pride month for a monthly night that I’m part of in London called Rhymes With Orange. The theme was ‘the 90s’ and the year 1996 is a part of my coming out story – a part I hadn’t thought about for a long time.”
LISTEN TO 1996 NOW
And why did you choose to tell this part of your coming out story now? “I think, now more than ever, it’s so important for us to tell our stories as the currently social and political climate makes it feel like there’s been a step back in the way that LGBTQIA+ people are being treated.
“I wanted to talk about the kindness of strangers in the process of coming out. The two women that I speak about in the piece will never know how much they helped me… It’s 23 years on and the woman who told me that I was going to be ok, was right.
“I wanted to write about this amazing little experience.”
Enjoyed this? Catch Jenny at “various different nights around London”, as well as her monthly residency at Rhymes With Orange. Jenny has also started her own night, Rebel Soapbox at Monty’s on Brick Lane. Follow her, @jennywithwords.
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