Taylor Mali
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Taylor Mail | |
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| Born | March 28, 1965 New York, NY, USA |
| Occupation | Poet, Teacher, Voice Actor |
| Nationality | USA |
| Literary movement | Slam Poetry |
| Notable work(s) | What Learning Leaves |
| Spouse(s) | Marie-Elizabeth Mundheim |
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Influences
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Taylor Mali (born 28 March 1965) is an American slam poet, teacher and voiceover artist.
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[edit] Life
A native of New York City, Taylor Mali graduated from the Collegiate School (New York), a private school for boys, in 1983. He received a B.A. in English from Bowdoin College in 1987 and an M.A. in English/Creative Writing from Kansas State University in 1993. He also studied drama with the Royal Shakespeare Academy at Oxford. One of four children, his mother was children's book author Jane L. Mali, a recipient of the American Book Award, and his father was H. Allen Mali, vice president of Henry W.T. Mali & Co., manufacturers of pool table coverings. In 1993 he married Rebecca, who died in 2004. On May 13, 2006 he married Marie-Elizabeth Mundheim, a high school friend.
[edit] Poetry
As a slam poetry performer, Taylor Mali has been on seven National Poetry Slam teams; six appeared on the finals stage and four won the competition. Mali is the author of What Learning Leaves, has recorded four CDs, and is included in various anthologies. Poets who have influenced him include Billy Collins, Saul Williams, Walt Whitman, Rives, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye. He is perhaps best known for the poem "What Teachers Make."
He appeared in Taylor Mali & Friends Live at the Bowery Poetry Club and the documentaries "SlamNation" (1997) and "Slam Planet" (2006). He was also in the HBO production, "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," which won a Peabody Award in 2003. Taylor Mali is the former president of Poetry Slam Incorporated, and he has performed with such renowned poets as Billy Collins and Allen Ginsberg. He and the other members of the "Urbana Poetry Series" team perform regularly at the Bowery Poetry Club.
[edit] Teaching
Taylor Mali spent nine years teaching English, history, and math, including a stint at Browning School, a boys school on the Upper East Side of New York City. He now lectures and conducts workshops for teachers and students all over the world. In 2001 Taylor Mali used a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts to develop the one-man show "Teacher! Teacher!" about poetry, teaching, and math. He is a strong advocate for the nobility of teaching and in 2000 he set out to create 1,000 new teachers through "poetry, persuasion, perseverance, or passion." As of February 25, 2008, there were 193[1].
[edit] Published Works
[edit] Books
- What Learning Leaves, 2002 - ISBN 1887012176
[edit] Audio CDs
- The Difference Between Left & Wrong, 1995
- Poems from the Like Free Zone, 2000
- Conviction, 2003
- Icarus Airlines, 2007
[edit] Anthologies
Collections in which Taylor Mali's work is included
- Poetry on Stage: At the Red Barn Theatre, Key West, 1995 ISBN 9781888036008
- Poetry Nation: The North American Anthology of Fusion Poetry, 1998, ISBN 1550651129
- Will Work For Peace: New Political Poems, 1999, ISBN 096664591X
- Bearing Witness, 2001, ISBN 9781569761304
- Freedom to Speak Anthology, 2002, ISBN 1893972070
- The Spoken Word Revolution 2003, ISBN 9781402200373
[edit] Narration
- American Fairy Tales, audiobook, 1998
- Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, audiobook, 2000
- Hope Along the Wind: The Story of Harry Hay, documentary, 2002
- Blizzard!, audiobook, 2003
- The Great Fire, audiobook, 2003
- Revenge of the Whale, audiobook, 2005
- ESCAPE! The Story of the Great Houdini, audiobook, 2006
- Close To Shore, audiobook, 2007
[edit] Awards
- 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002 - National Poetry Slam winning team
- 2001 - U. S. Comedy Arts Festival jury prize for best solo performance, "Teacher! Teacher!"
- 2003 - AudioFile Earphones Award for The Great Fire.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- Obituary: Jane L. Mali, New York Times, October 7, 1995
- Review of The Great Fire, AudioFile Magazine, Jun/Jul 2003
- Vows: Marie-Elizabeth Mundheim and Taylor Mali, New York Times, May 28, 2006
- Slam Poet's Muse is Teaching, Stacey Hollenbeck, Teacher Magazine, July 18 2007
- Day Job: Teacher, Night Job: Poet, Instructor, Sep/Oct 2007, Vol. 117 Issue 2, p.9
[edit] External links
- Taylor Mali - official web site
- Taylor Mali article, Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- Taylor Mali profile, Famecast web site
- Podcasts of poems
