Interview with author Geraldine Taylor

Today our guest is author Geraldine Taylor from England. An author, poet, spoken word artist, songwriter, and founder of Talent Showcase 1. Geraldine has created online platforms for up and coming artists of various genres. We have conducted an interview with her.

Which one of your current titles is the most challenging and that you like the most?

Both my poetic works and prose come naturally to me with inspirational flow. However, The Enchanted Door is among my favourites, as the subject matters and concepts included therein are quite diverse. The Enchanted Door is a collection of poems written by me, aimed at the primary and secondary sector. The collection includes subjects and themes based upon the national curriculum, yet additional concepts include family/peer and relational dynamics, friendships, seasons and the like. Different individuals grow to have their personal favourites to read and perform from the collection, which I found whilst working with pupils in schools.

What is your work mainly based on?

I am an author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, in which I additionally create educational resources. The nature of my work is multi-faceted and as a multi-talented individual I both receive and create opportunities to collaborate with artists from various industries in relation to different art forms. Within the creative industry alone a number of art forms are interconnected and can be combined, such as poetry with music.

What is your background experience?

I have been writing poetry and songs since childhood, in which the desire and natural ability was always there. For a number of years I have worked in a range of schools and educational establishments, in both the primary and secondary sector. The role began as a teaching assistant, but within each school the recognition of my talents then brought additional activities to share within the schools. I conducted classroom poetry readings, workshops, whole school poetry assemblies, as well as athletic practical games for PE and intervention groups.

What is it about spoken word performances that you like?

I like the way in which it can be applied in a wide range of social contexts. I have had continued opportunities to write poetry on specific themes, in relation to social events, where I then performed those pieces to various audiences. I have additionally performed poetry that I wrote for specific people in my life for special occasions, including a family wedding. To have a wide audience both transfixed and engaged in your performance whilst being able to emotionally connect and identify with the words and concepts being articulated is enlightening. During my performance is when I am in my creative flow and the continued positive feedback is highly confirming. As a deep person I emotionally connect and resonate with all the work I create and perform.

How does it impact children educationally?

The transformative, inspirational, liberating and to a degree therapeutic impact is clear to see both during and following creative performances. In such an environment that fosters creativity a number of children follow on by later sharing their own creative works inspired by the performance, including poetry that they went on to write. There has been positive feedback from children who would share their personal enjoyment of the performance, in which there are specific themes they have related to including friendships and bullying issues. A number of my poems have been translated to online slideshows which the groups of children I have worked with have enjoyed reading along with the poems to music. On one particular occasion a pupil shared how one of the poems moved him to tears of joy, which he was happy to share with the class. After a read-along slideshow of a series of my poems during a poetry assembly, the positive morale amongst pupils and teachers alike was astounding, as well as hearing the children all read along merrily in time.

How many different learning styles can your resources cater for?

The range of resources I have created are available and can be downloaded online. They have been utilized by educational practitioners in the UK and the USA. My resources includes, worksheets, activities, games, poems, e-books (fiction and non-fiction), songs, photography, posters and online MP4 videos. As the resources take into account learning by sight, hearing, practical application, in addition to a game that involves the sense of smell and taste, using fruit pieces, there would be 5 learning styles in particular. I have on numerous occasions had practical board games that I had created successfully played by groups of pupils in schools, with combined positive feedback on creativity and engagement. The games include, Racetime, Supermarket Creations, Fruit-Time and the like.

What projects are you currently working on?

I have two anthology series which are currently being compiled, namely 'The Creative Collective Anthology' and 'The Creative Collective Anthology by Young People'. Both works comprise a collection of poems by poets from across the globe. As it is an ongoing project, there will be further series of the anthology available for publication. I am compiling a collection of poems written by me for celebrities, in particular those of noble and renowned accomplishments. The collection currently features poems about J. K. Rowling, Shirley Bassey, Common, Yasiin Bey, Anthony Joshua, Kelly Holmes ad infinitum. This project will additionally be a continuing project, as there is a wide range of individuals to be included. These individuals would also have positively inspired me throughout my journey.

I have created an online platform for the talent industry, namely Talented Showcase 1, which includes a website, blog page and a number of social networks. The platform was created to promote the talents of various artists, including actors, dancers, models, musicians, poets, singers and spoken word artists.

One of my current titles, namely 'The Ever Changing Dream' has been accepted for publication by a publisher, which will debut in the latter part of 2017.

I am currently writing a song collection across a range of genres, which are additionally being performed by numerous singers in the talent industry from the UK and the USA. It is both inspirational and uplifting when you see and hear artists perform their personal rendition of your songs and poetry that you wrote.

I will additionally be modelling as an ambassador for a sports organisation for their clothing merchandise. This personally relates to me as I am additionally a competing athlete.