Taylor Mali, one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet, enthralled Middle and Upper School students today at an assembly presentation. Eloquent, accessible, passionate and often downright hilarious, Mali studied drama in Oxford with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company and puts those skills of presentation to work in all his performances. He was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry and was the “Armani-clad villain” of Paul Devlin’s 1997 documentary film SlamNation. He is also 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. We thank Sharon Smullen for arranging for this very special guest to help us celebrate National Poetry Month and Arts Month at BCD.
To learn more about Taylor Mali and his poetry, visit www.taylormali.com
