Joelle Taylor

Joelle Taylor

FRSL
Born1967 (age 57–58)
Lancashire, United Kingdom
OccupationPoet, performer, playwright, educator
NationalityBritish
Period1995–present
GenrePoetry, plays, non-fiction
Notable awards
Website
joelletaylor.co.uk

Joelle Taylor RSL (born 1967)[1] is a poet, playwright and author. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Early life

Taylor was born in Lancashire.[2]

Career

She founded SLAMbassadors, the UK's national youth slam championships, for The Poetry Society in 2001, and was its artistic director and national coach until 2018.[3][4][5] Her collection Songs My Enemy Taught Me was published by longtime collaborator Anthony Anaxagorou in 2017, through his company, Out-Spoken Press.

She has toured the UK several times as a solo poet, as well as Australia and South East Asia in 2018.[citation needed] She is the poet in residence at a number of schools,[6] and performs and teaches across the country. She is a Subject for Study on the OCR GCSE English curriculum.[citation needed] Her current emphasis is on working with groups of marginalised women globally, and on publishing their writing on her website, as well as on her online blog The Night Alphabet to coincide with her debut book of short stories of the same name.[citation needed] She co-curates and hosts Out-Spoken, a monthly live poetry and music night currently in long-term residence at London's Southbank Centre.[7] She is commissioning editor of Out-Spoken Press for 2021–22.[8]

Political views

In December 2019, along with 42 other cultural figures, Taylor signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[9][10]

Personal life

Taylor is based in London.[citation needed]

Publications

  • Naming (1994) – a play[11]
  • Whorror Stories (1995) – a play[2][11]
  • Lesbians Talk Violent Relationships (with Tracy Chandler, 1995, Scarlet Press) – non-fiction
  • Whorror Stories II (1996) – a play[2]
  • Lucid Johnston (2000) – a play
  • Ska Tissue (2011, Mother Foucault Press – poetry[4]
  • The Woman Who Was Not There (2014, Burning Eye Books) – poetry
  • Songs My Enemy Taught Me (2017, Out-Spoken Press) – poetry
  • C+nto: & Othered Poems (2021, Westbourne Press) – poetry[12]
  • The Night Alphabet (2024) – a novel[13]

Awards

References

  1. ^ "Joelle Taylor Q&A: "I'd like to see dinner ladies take over parliament"". New Statesman. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Joelle Taylor". Literature | British Council. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Joelle Taylor". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Joelle Taylor". Apples and Snakes. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  5. ^ a b Wood, Heloise (11 January 2022). "Taylor wins the £25k T S Eliot Prize for 'blazing book of rage and light'". The Bookseller. London. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Joelle Taylor – poet in residence for three Herefordshire high schools". Ledbury Poetry Festival. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  7. ^ Southbank Centre (2022). "Out-Spoken | Southbank Centre". Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  8. ^ "About Out-Spoken Press". Out-Spoken. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Vote for hope and a decent future". The Guardian. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  10. ^ Proctor, Kate (3 December 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  11. ^ a b Rapi, Nina; Chowdhry, Maya (2013). Acts of Passion: Sexuality, Gender, and Performance. Routledge. p. 24 – via Google Books. The collective has produced two plays to date - Naming and Whorror Stories - both written and co-directed by Joelle Taylor and premiered at the Oval House Theatre
  12. ^ Kellaway, Kate (14 February 2022). "C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor review – punchy tales of lesbian life". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  13. ^ Erskine, Wendy (22 February 2024). "The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor review – relentlessly inventive". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  14. ^ "T S Eliot Prize shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 15 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  15. ^ Flood, Alison (10 January 2022). "Joelle Taylor wins TS Eliot poetry prize for 'blazing' C+nto & Othered Poems". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Taylor, Zmith win 2022 Polari Prizes". Books+Publishing. 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  17. ^ Shaffi, Sarah; Knight, Lucy (12 July 2022). "Adjoa Andoh, Russell T Davies and Michaela Coel elected to Royal Society of Literature". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 September 2023.