NEW YORK, NY April 09, 2008 —The New York City native spent almost a decade teaching everything from English to SAT prep before dedicating all his time to being a poet. Mali made it to the National Poetry Slam Finals seven times, winning four of them, and appeared on two seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He also conducts poetry workshops and lecturers on the value of teaching. Mali’s performance "Teacher, Teacher," won the jury prize for best one-man show at the U. S. Comedy Arts Festival. Mali holds numerous awards, but for the history books, he says, “I want to be the spokesman for teaching's nobility, the poet laureate of passion in the classroom.”

Taylor Mali reading "Undivided Attention"

"Stories"