Episode 111 Notes and Links to Taylor Byas’ Work
On Episode 111 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Taylor Byas, and the two discuss many topics, such as Taylor’s early reading, both school-selected and then her discovery of titans like Toni Morrison and Patricia Smith, contemporary writers who continue to inspire and thrill her, her relationship with form in her writing, close-up views of some of her affecting work, and how her work interrogates the ways in which Black women walk through the world due to historical and current racist and systematic tropes and practices.
Taylor Byas is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio where she is a PhD student and Yates scholar at the University of Cincinnati, and an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She was the 1st place winner of both the Poetry Super Highway and the Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets Contests. Her work appears or is forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Borderlands Texas Poetry Review, Glass, Iron Horse Literary Review, Hobart, Frontier Poetry, SWWIM, TriQuarterly, and others.
Taylor Byas' Website
Jeni de la O with The Poetry Question and her In-depth Study of Taylor’s “I Don’t Care if Mary Jane Gets Saved or Not”
Taylor's "My Twitter Feed Becomes Too Much"
“Tiger Stripes” Nonfiction from Taylor-Mixed Mag
“Hypothetically Speaking” Poem from Palette Poetry
At about 2:50, Taylor talks about her creativity and input and mindset during COVID
At about 6:10, Pete asks Taylor about her philosophy in writing and revising
At about 8:00, Taylor responds to Pete’s questions about her relationship with language in childhood
At about 9:15: “Reading beef!”
At about 10:00, Taylor talks about an ekphrastic poetry class in undergrad as a “perfect bridge”
At about 11:00, Pete zeroes in on what Taylor was reading as a kid and adolescent; Taylor points to junior year in high school as a reading turning point in discovering Toni Morrison’s work and The Color Purple
At about 13:00, Pete alludes to a joyful photo of literary giants, Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, dancing
At about 13:10, Pete asks Taylor to name her favorite Toni Morrison work
At about 13:45-15:35, Taylor discusses Black poets who have thrilled and inspired her-Erica Dawson is referenced as a meaningful writer for Taylor
At about 15:45, Taylor shouts out Patricia Smith and how she and Erica Dawson as formalists were inspiring; Taylor talks about getting to meet a hero in Patricia Smith and correspondence with Patricia
At about 17:45, Taylor responds to Pete’s questions about representation, and she explains the “void” she felt in her high school reading
At about 20:00, Taylor highlights Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Tiana Clark and Claudia Rankine as contemporary writers who she enjoys and draws inspiration from; Georgia Douglas Johnson is a writer Taylor returns to
At about 21:45, Taylor gives background on how she became sure of her path as a writer
At about 24:20, Pete asks Taylor for her views on form in her work; she cites Michael Frazier’s interesting philosophy on form
At about 27:00, Taylor talks about her teaching life and student life and views on form in academia and in writing communities
At about 28:35, Taylor talks about how she approaches others’ works as an editor
At about 30:40, Taylor talks about “meaning” in her work and its connection to narrative
At about 32:40, Taylor responds to Pete’s question about the relationship between poet and speaker
At about 34:45, Pete and Taylor discuss her nonfiction piece “Tiger Stripes” and exposure and self-reflection in her projects
At about 38:05, the two discuss “Hypothetically Speaking” and Taylor talks about balancing nostalgia and perspective
At about 39:40, Taylor talks about what she learned through watching the ways in which her younger siblings and other children she worked with moved through the world
At about 41:40, Jeni de la O’s incredibl
View all episodes
