Episode 33: T.S. Eliot Prize Winner Joelle Taylor on Her New Novel ‘The Night Alphabet’
“I spent my whole life thinking poetry was the answer. Only to get to this stage and realise that it’s not. It’s the question. That’s what all good writing is, it’s the damned question.”
-Joelle Taylor
In the latest episode of Art Persists, we speak to award-winning poet, playwright, author and editor, Joelle Taylor.
Joelle talks about growing up in Lancashire and how punk and live performance introduced her to spoken word and poetry. She opens the conversation by reading an extract for her brilliant new novel, The Night Alphabet, which combines queer futurism and feminism over different timespans and geographies. Joelle unpacks the book and we chat about themes of patriarchy and the strength of solidarity between women across the globe, interwoven throughout. We go on to talk about the role of art in offering different perspectives, even those we may not like.
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About
Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted for theatre with a view to touring. She is a co- curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre, and tours her work nationally and internationally in a diverse range of venues, from Australia to Brazil. She is also a Poetry Fellow of University of East Anglia and the curator of the Koestler Awards 2023. She has judged several poetry and literary prizes including Jerwood Fellowship, the Forward Prize, and the Ondaatje Prize.
Her novel of interconnecting stories The Night Alphabet was published by Riverrun in Spring of 2024. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and the 2022 Saboteur Spoken Word Artist of the Year.
Learn more about her work: http://joelletaylor.co.uk/
Get your copy of The Night Alphabet: https://www.welbooks.co.uk/shop/p/the-night-alphabet-by-joelle-taylor
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