Episode #30
Episode #30 - Donald Jenkins
In this episode of Glasgow Sessions, Richard Lee welcomes Newcastle-based poet, rapper, educator, community artist, activist and long-time promoter Don Jenkins for a candid, generous and often hilarious conversation about creativity, community, regional identity and the courage to keep making work at any age. Born in Glasgow but raised in Newcastle, Don reflects on the character, history and cultural energy of the North East. He talks about the legacy of coal mining, shipbuilding and working-class communities, and how those histories still shape the regionās music, poetry and politics. At the centre of that discussion is language: Don makes a passionate case for artists retaining their own accents in their writing and performance, rather than copying American rap cadences or defaulting to a generic London sound. For him, a Geordie, Glaswegian, Scouse or Mancunian voice is not a limitationāit carries its own rhythm, humour, emotional weight and possibilities for rhyme. Richard and Don explore the world of spoken-word performance and poetry slams, including Donās experience of winning the Great Geet Muckle Slam in 2018 and subsequently becoming its host. He explains the intensity of having only three minutes to perform a poem in front of a live audience and judges, the nerves of forgetting lines or freezing on stage, and the strange unpredictability of competitive poetry. Don also considers the difference between writing for the page and writing for performance, describing how form, rhythm, rhyme, metre and audience response all shape the work in different ways. He discusses National Poetry Writing Month, his practice of writing a poem every day in April, and his belief that writing poetry, rap, journalism and criticism all feed into one another and make him a more versatile writer. The episode also hears Don speak openly about becoming a rapper in his forties. He describes himself as a late bloomer, but sees age as a source of perspective rather than a barrier. Having written raps as a teenager, experimented with jungle MCing and spent years supporting other artists through events and promotion, Don eventually realised that he had work of his own to make. He talks about learning rap technique later in lifeāthe breath control, cadence, musicality and songwriting discipline involvedāand about accepting the awkwardness of being a beginner again. The conversation is ultimately an encouraging one for anyone who feels they have missed their chance: Donās view is that if you have something to say and the commitment to develop your craft, there is no age at which creativity is closed to you. A particularly moving part of the interview focuses on Stories of the Stones, Donās community-led poetry project about people buried in St Johnās and Westgate Hill cemeteries in Newcastleās West End. Inspired by years of walking his dog through the cemetery and wondering about the names on the gravestones, Don began researching local lives, listening to residents and turning their memories into poems. He discusses forgotten family histories, working-class lives, local characters, acts of quiet heroism and the importance of documenting people whose stories may never otherwise enter official history. Don performs a powerful poem about alcoholism, family breakdown, anger, sobriety and reconciliation. Based on the account of a local manās relationship with his father, it follows the emotional aftermath of addiction while allowing space for the difficult, imperfect possibility of change. Don also shares extraordinary historical connections uncovered through the project, from a local story around the origins of kippers to an unexpected Newcastle link involving the Bond family motto āThe World Is Not Enough,ā Sir Thomas Bond and the mythology around James Bond. He also discusses the forthcoming continuation of the project, More Stories of the Stones. Richard and Don also delve into Donās work as a community poet, youth worker and educator. Don talks about his experience as an English teacher and his earlier community and youth work, which helped him rediscover a love of language and eventually led him to undertake a masterās degree in creative writing. He explains why he describes himself as a community poet: he is less interested in treating poetry as an isolated literary pursuit than in using it to bring people together, give communities a way to tell their stories and create opportunities for people to find confidence in their own voices. They discuss Slam Fresh, the community-interest company Don runs with Rowan McCabe, the Door-to-Door Poet. Through workshops in secondary schools, Slam Fresh gives young people a platform for spoken-word writing and performance, helping them develop confidence, communication skills and the ability to articulate experiences that may otherwise stay unspoken. Don reflects on the joy of seeing young people who begin a project convinced they cannot perform go on to stand in front of a crowd and āboss it,ā including a pupil with a stutter who grew in confidence and received recognition for their work. The conversation also addresses race, hip-hop and artistic responsibility. Don speaks frankly about hip-hop as a Black musical form and about the importance of being self-aware as a white regional rapper. He discusses his own musical education through blues, rock and roll, rave culture and hip-hop, and acknowledges the deep Black roots of many of the musical forms he loves. He reflects on hearing artists such as Public Enemy, N.W.A., The Notorious B.I.G., Howlinā Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Richard, and on how listening to music can expose people to lives, histories and experiences far beyond their own. Don and Richard talk about racism, privilege, political disengagement and the role of rap as social commentary. Don argues that mainstream hip-hop has often been pulled towards commercialism, status and image, but he believes the genre still has room for artists who write with political consciousness, complexity and humour. He discusses the importance of not turning politics into a lecture, and of making work that can carry anger, insight, playfulness and human contradiction at the same time. He also shares why retaining regional dialect matters in UK rap, celebrating artists from Newcastle, Glasgow and other cities who sound unmistakably like where they come from. There is also plenty of discussion of Donās theatrical work, especially his solo show Still Raving in Your 40s. Developed through a residency at Alphabetti Theatre and performed as part of the Newcastle Fringe Festival, the show grew from an original book idea into a full hour-long narrative woven from poetry, memory and rave culture. Don describes how working in theatre allowed him to move beyond the short slots of open-mic and spoken-word nights, giving him space to tell a fuller story with a beginning, middle and end. The show is for people who once danced until sunrise, as well as those who still feel the urge to do so. Rave culture, free parties and music promotion run throughout the episode. Richard and Don share memories of finding secret locations through telephone numbers, dancing in rural landscapes and experiencing the communal atmosphere of underground events in Derbyshire, Northumberland, Wales and beyond. Don explains that his years of putting on raves, club nights and arts events taught him that a successful night is about more than booking performers: it is about hospitality, trust, friendship, variety and making people feel that they belong. That idea of building a welcoming scene continues in Donās reflections on Born Lippy, the long-running Newcastle creative night he has run for nearly nine years. He explains why he is stepping back from producing it as a regular event: after decades of promoting others, he wants to create more space for his own poetry and music. However, he remains committed to curation, collaboration and bringing different art forms together. He argues that great events should be eclectic, allowing audiences to encounter music, poetry, rap, singing and performance they may not initially think is for them. The episode explores the Poetry Exchange project, which brought writers from Newcastleās Born Lippy scene together with Londonās Spoken Creative community. Don considers what art can realistically achieve socially and politically. He is cautious about claiming that a poem can instantly change someoneās beliefs, but he believes it can help people hear experiences outside their own and create meaningful encounters between people with different backgrounds and perspectives. He recalls collaborative work produced during the COVID period, including an argument poem created with someone whose views on COVID restrictions and conspiracy theories differed sharply from his own. For Don, the value was not in forcing agreement, but in finding a way to make art together across disagreement. Towards the end of the conversation, Don looks ahead to a new chapter. He discusses touring Still Raving in Your 40s, developing his first full-length album and working on new material that reflects the progress he has made as a rapper and songwriter. He and J Lee also join the conversation to discuss āVoice of Reason,ā a track inspired by a frightening incident on the Newcastle Metro, when they tried to help a man who had collapsed and stopped breathing. The experience became the basis for a song about conscience, care, addiction, danger and the voice inside us that tries to guide usāor keep us alive. Finally, Richard, Don and Jay-Lee CCTV celebrate the cultural connection between Glasgow and Newcastle. They discuss a North East takeover night in Glasgow, featuring artists from both cities alongside international guests, and the wider importance of creating opportunities for people, scenes and regions to meet. It is a fitting conclusion to an episode that is ultimately about connection: between cities, art forms, generations, communities, histories and voices. This is an episode for anyone interested in spoken word, rap, poetry, local history, community arts, regional identity, grassroots events, rave culture or simply the process of finding your creative direction later in life. Donald Jenkins brings insight, humour, honesty and a fierce belief in the power of ordinary peopleās stories.
