A performance poet who cut her teeth at Write Out Loud open mic nights at Wigan, Sale, Stockport and Bolton has become the “face” of the Nationwide Building Society in its current advertising campaign.

You can see posters of Joy France in the windows of Nationwide branch offices the length and breadth of the country, following her appearances on TV and radio adverts delivering poetry in the Nationwide Voices campaign. Joy appears on two current ads, one titled ‘A lesson on loyalty’, about her gran’s shopping habits, and another about her 91-year-old mum’s enduring football and rugby league fever.  

The pictures of Joy around the country have resulted in Twitter followers on social media posting photos #joyspotting of her latest appearances in their local shopping malls or high streets, with comments such as “I found Joy in Blackpool!” and “You know you’ve really made in when you’re in Stoke-on-Trent”.

Joy’s reaction to all this? “I pinch myself. My mam laughs in amazement at how I’ve become so outgoing. All my life I was so quiet.”

The Nationwide adverts featuring poets began last September, and have included a cluster of performers. But driving back up north last weekend after appearing at the opening of a Nationwide branch in the west country, Joy heard herself four times on the radio while listening to Classic FM. She said how “weird” that felt, and is keen to make clear that all this is not all about her. “Most importantly the [Nationwide] campaign gets poetry ‘out there’ and even if people don’t like a poem, it provokes conversations in living rooms about poetry. It gives me a chance to engage more people than ever.”

Joy credits her early performances at Write Out Loud open mic nights, attending a Write Out Loud residential weekend, and being part of the website as being “integral to shaping the poet I have become. Not just my words but my attitudes. I made so many true friends. The organisers, poets, audiences.” Expectations can be overturned at such nights: “Most Write Out Loud events have a huge number of talented men, down-to-earth, working class men sharing sensitive delicate personal feeling words, as well as strident angry ones.”

She added: “I remember vividly taking those first tentative steps into the poetry world. I hold on to the feelings of being terrified when I encourage others to take their first steps. I love seeing them being brave and blossoming.”

Joy linked up with the Nationwide through the Poetry Takeaway. “They manage and cast, and represent the poets involved. They ensure that they are treated properly and the whole experience was fun. As the Poetry Takeaway also literally deliver bespoke poetry in a takeaway van to communities and events around the country, they are a perfect fit for myself, echoing my philosophy. They connect on a 1:1 personal level, writing individual poems for people to, well ...  take away! I’ve loved joining them but oh my, it has been a personal and creative challenge …  and responsibility.  Doing it has extended writing my skills and enabled me to continue to connect with people on a very meaningful level.”

Among her many gigs – Joy took her show to the Edinburgh festival two years ago – she has been “creative-in-residence” at Afflecks in Manchester, “an iconic emporium of independent sole traders. It's been at the heart of Manchester's culture (and counter culture) scene since 1982. I have set up a creative space there. It's free to use and always open. Hundreds of people come and write or share their first poems, write lyrics, play instruments, draw - do anything creative. It has been the most amazing thing ever. It’s a place where people feel at home. As always it’s not about me. If by ‘being me’ I can get people to connect with others and explore their own creativity, then I’m happy!”

 

 

I also attended the Write Out Loud residential weekend Joy mentioned, at Todmorden back in 2011, and remember her dedication, retiring to a quiet corner to fettle and hone a poem while the rest of us laughed and gossiped. I should have known  … Since then Write Out Loud has reported on her slam triumphs, and witnessed her assured performances at Write Out Loud’s poetry jam in Marsden, in Brixton on tour with Laura Taylor, and at a national “anti-slam” final in Hackney.

But let Joy, a former teacher, have the final word: “I took early retirement three years ago and at the core of everything I did was to entice others into the world of poetry. Sometimes by performing poetry in places where it’s not usually found to getting people to reconsider or re-engage poetry. Especially self-confessed ‘poetry haters’ … I took a little manual number counter and every time anyone enjoyed hearing / sharing / talking about poetry, they clicked it. By the end of the first year, over 1,000 people had done just that!”