An Evening with Poet Taylor Mali '87

Taylor Mali, nationally recognized spoken word poet, returns to Bowdoin from which he graduated in 1987. Mali will perform an evening of poetry featuring three current Bowdoin student poets – King Weatherspoon, Chayma Charifi and Kaitlin Weiss – as the opening act. This legacy of poetry is part of the 2025 tribute to the Class of 1825, which included poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and author Nathaniel Hawthorne. These two literary giants forged an international appreciation for American literature and were “rockstars” of their century.

Funded by the Blythe Bickel Edwards Fund.

Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series “Def Poetry Jam.” A four-time National Poetry Slam champion, he is the author of four collections of poetry and a chapbook, The Whetting Stone, which won the 2017 Rattle Chapbook Prize. He is the author of the acclaimed nonfiction book, What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. In April of 2012, Mali donated 12 inches of his hair to the American Cancer Society Mali after convincing 1,000 people to become teachers. He lives in Brooklyn where he curates the Page Meets Stage reading series at the Bowery Poetry Club.

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Co-hosted with: Bowdoin College Library, Cinema Studies, English

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