What Learning Leaves

Taylor Mali writes a captivating story of his experiences inside and outside the middle school classroom in What Learning Leaves. Hailed by The New York Times as both a "ranting comic showman" and a "literary provocateur," this collection boasts Mali's greatest hits, including the resonant and thought-provoking poems "Like Lilly Like Wilson," and the renowned "What Teachers Make," a sensation with over five million views on YouTube and hailed as "the most forwarded poem in the world." Mali's writing strikes a masterful balance between eloquence and entertainment, inviting readers on a journey through the vibrant landscapes of education and life, leaving them both moved and enlightened by the power of his words.

Taylor Mali is the author most recently of The Whetting Stone (Rattle 2017), a "life-affirmingly dark" look at the death of his first wife. He is also the author of Bouquet of Red Flags (Write Bloody Books 2014), a poetic celebration of "a marriage I did not yet realize was over," What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World (Putnam 2012) as well as two other books of poetry, The Last Time As We Are (Write Bloody Books 2009) and What Learning Leaves (Hanover 2002). 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.Formerly president of Poetry Slam, Inc., the non-profit organization that oversees all poetry slams in North America, Taylor Mali makes his living entirely as a spoken-word and voiceover artist these days, traveling around the country performing and teaching workshops as well as doing occasional commercial voiceover work. He has narrated several books on tape, including The Great Fire (for which he won the Golden Earphones Award for children's narration).