Taylor Mali

TAYLOR MALI is a vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through “poetry, persuasion, and perseverance.”

He is the author of two books of poetry, The Last Time As We Are and What Learning Leaves and four CDs of spoken word. He received a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in 2001 to develop Teacher! Teacher! a one-man show about poetry, teaching, and math which won the jury prize for best solo performance at the 2001 Comedy Arts Festival.

Formerly president of Poetry Slam, Inc., the non-profit organization that oversees all poetry slams in North America, Taylor Mali makes his living entirely as a spoken-word and voiceover artist these days, traveling around the country performing and teaching workshops as well as doing occasional commercial voiceover work.

Visit his website here.

Click here to read our blog about Taylor Mali. 

Schedule

THURSDAY

9:30-10:45 am
Welcome & Reading and Conversation
Kurtis Lamkin, Dorianne Laux, Taylor Mali
Prudential Hall 

11:00-12:15
Conversation: From Homer to Hip-Hop: Poetry and the Oral Tradition
Juan Felipe Herrera, Kurtis Lamkin, Taylor Mali, Rachel McKibbens
Chase Room

7:30-10:00
POETRY SAMPLER
Richard Blanco, Eavan Boland, Henri Cole, Sharon Dolin, Nikky Finney, Terrance Hayes, Juan Felipe Herrera, Jane Hirshfield, Fanny Howe, Kurtis Lamkin, Dorianne Laux, Ada Limón, Thomas Lux, Rachel McKibbens, Taylor Mali, Joseph Millar, Idra Novey, Gregory Orr, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Patricia Smith, Arthur Sze, Larissa Szporluk, Natasha Trethewey, C.K. Williams, Raúl Zurita
Prudential Hall
 

FRIDAY

10:50-11:50am
Festival Poet Readings
Emari DiGiorgio, Jane Hirshfield, Taylor Mali, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Arthur Sze
Victoria Theatre

12:10-1:10pm
Conversation: From Homer to Hip Hop/Poetry and the Oral Tradition
Rachel McKibbens, Taylor Mali, Patricia Smith
Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

1:30-2:30pm
Poets on Poetry
Taylor Mali, John Murillo
Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral
 

SATURDAY

10:30-11:40
Festival Poets Reading
Brian Barker, Fanny Howe, Taylor Mali
Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

3:00-4:10
Conversation: From Homer to Hip Hop/Poetry and the Oral Tradition
Kurtis Lamkin, Rachel McKibbens, Taylor Mali, Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Victoria Theatre
 

SUNDAY

9:00-10:10am
Festival Poet Readings
Adele Kenny, Taylor Mali, Narubi Selah, Raúl Zurita
CAE Auditorium