Heather Taylor
Encyclopedia
Heather Taylor is a Canadian poet
, writer, filmmaker, and social media and community specialist whose work has been produced throughout Europe, Asia, Australia & North America. She has been a host on Resonance FM
& Sound Radio with guest slots on CBC
, CKUA
(Edmonton), CKUF (Victoria) & BBC London Radio. Her writing includes poetry, short stories, journalism (web and print), plays and films. Her collections include Horizon & Back (Tall Lighthouse
, UK, 2005) and Sick Day Afternoons (Treci Trg, Serbia, 2009).
, Camberwell Arts Festival, Harrow Festival, Runnymede International Literature Festival, and Glastonbury Festival
. She has also performed at the Arnolfini Gallery (Bristol) and Guardian
Newsroom as part of the Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa
project and has been a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen since 2006.
From 2005-2007, Heather toured the 2-woman poetry and music show, Accents on Words with Aoife Mannix. It was launched at the Poetry Café in London in November 2005 and has since been performed at a number of venues, including The British Library
with BBC Radio London, BAC with Apples and Snakes, The Aran Islands
(Ireland) and India with the British Council
for Mumbai Poetry Live. In December 2007, Heather Taylor took part in first Belgrade International Poetry festival "Beogradski Trg".
, Soho Theatre
, Greenwich
, the Pleasance, & Theatre 503
in London as well as New Place in St. Albans, G12 in Glasgow as part of the NewWriting NewWorlds Festival and various venues in Canada. She graduated with an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from City University in 2009 and her first feature film, The Last Thakur
, premiered at the London Film Festival
2008. The short documentary, Wild West Dream, she produced and co-directed through Red on Black Productions was at the Atlantic Film Festival
and the Edmonton International Film Festival
in 2009. Heather is working toward turning the short into an hour long television documentary with Free @ Last TV.
’s social media and consumer advocacy site, Let’s Talk. While in that role, in addition to PayPal related topics, she regularly produced video interviews with experts in mobile, finance, social media and web development, to help consumers use PayPal and the internet better. She also featured merchants and individuals who use PayPal to find out how it works for them.
She has been a speaker at Reputation Online Live, Media Camp London, Social Media in Business, a roundtable discussion on Customer Service for National Complaints Day and unGeeked Elite Retreat in Toronto. Heather has also run training courses attended by companies including PayPal, Disney, Eurostar, Pepsi, Associated Press, Digital White and Unison.
for primary/secondary level. Heather also has her TESOL Certification to teach children English as a second language.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, writer, filmmaker, and social media and community specialist whose work has been produced throughout Europe, Asia, Australia & North America. She has been a host on Resonance FM
Resonance FM
Resonance 104.4 FM is a London based non-profit community radio station run by the London Musicians' Collective .The station is staffed by four permanent staff members, including programme controller Ed Baxter and over 300 volunteer technical and production staff.Until September 2007, ResonanceFM...
& Sound Radio with guest slots on CBC
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
, CKUA
CKUA
CKUA is a Canadian radio station. Originally located at the University of Alberta in Edmonton , it now broadcasts from studios in downtown Edmonton and south Calgary. CKUA was created in 1927 through a provincial grant which allowed the University of Alberta's Extension Department to purchase the...
(Edmonton), CKUF (Victoria) & BBC London Radio. Her writing includes poetry, short stories, journalism (web and print), plays and films. Her collections include Horizon & Back (Tall Lighthouse
Tall Lighthouse
Tall Lighthouse is an independent publishing house in the UK, established in 1999 by Les Robinson. It publishes full collections of poetry, pamphlets, and the anthology City Lighthouse, a collection of poems by established and emerging poets alike, having featured work by Maurice Riordan, Hugo...
, UK, 2005) and Sick Day Afternoons (Treci Trg, Serbia, 2009).
Poetry and Performance
She studied music, acting and writing in western Canada. After working on over 30 film and theatre productions both onstage and off, Heather began performing her own solo work in Vancouver. Since arriving in the UK, she has been a featured performer at events/ venues including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Borders, Poetry Café, Book Slam, RADARada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
, Camberwell Arts Festival, Harrow Festival, Runnymede International Literature Festival, and Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
. She has also performed at the Arnolfini Gallery (Bristol) and Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Newsroom as part of the Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro Wiwa was a Nigerian author, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Environmental Prize...
project and has been a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen since 2006.
From 2005-2007, Heather toured the 2-woman poetry and music show, Accents on Words with Aoife Mannix. It was launched at the Poetry Café in London in November 2005 and has since been performed at a number of venues, including The British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
with BBC Radio London, BAC with Apples and Snakes, The Aran Islands
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland...
(Ireland) and India with the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
for Mumbai Poetry Live. In December 2007, Heather Taylor took part in first Belgrade International Poetry festival "Beogradski Trg".
Writing for Stage and Screen
As a playwright, her work has been seen at the TricycleTricycle
A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school-age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for...
, Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
, Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, the Pleasance, & Theatre 503
Theatre 503
Theatre503 is located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. It is a performing arts venue which specialises in new work.-History:...
in London as well as New Place in St. Albans, G12 in Glasgow as part of the NewWriting NewWorlds Festival and various venues in Canada. She graduated with an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from City University in 2009 and her first feature film, The Last Thakur
The Last Thakur
The Last Thakur is a British-Bangladeshi western film directed by Sadik Ahmed. A lone gun-man enters a typical Bangladeshi town to find his identity and take revenge on the person who raped his mother during the war...
, premiered at the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
2008. The short documentary, Wild West Dream, she produced and co-directed through Red on Black Productions was at the Atlantic Film Festival
Atlantic Film Festival
The Atlantic Film Festival is an international film festival held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Held annually, the ten-day celebration of film and video from Atlantic Canada and around the world is committed to screening an inspiring and engaging collection of films and videos from Canada and the...
and the Edmonton International Film Festival
Edmonton International Film Festival
The Edmonton International Film Festival is a nine-day film festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, hosted at Empire Theatres at Edmonton City Centre....
in 2009. Heather is working toward turning the short into an hour long television documentary with Free @ Last TV.
Social Media
Heather is actively working towards creating projects that combine creativity and technology and will be joining the BBC as Corporate Community Manager in March, 2011. She was the former social media and PR manager for giffgaff and the former editor and filmmaker for PayPalPayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
’s social media and consumer advocacy site, Let’s Talk. While in that role, in addition to PayPal related topics, she regularly produced video interviews with experts in mobile, finance, social media and web development, to help consumers use PayPal and the internet better. She also featured merchants and individuals who use PayPal to find out how it works for them.
She has been a speaker at Reputation Online Live, Media Camp London, Social Media in Business, a roundtable discussion on Customer Service for National Complaints Day and unGeeked Elite Retreat in Toronto. Heather has also run training courses attended by companies including PayPal, Disney, Eurostar, Pepsi, Associated Press, Digital White and Unison.
Work as an educator
As an educator, Heather has worked in schools (primary and secondary), community groups, prisons and with businesses developing creativity through writing and performance. Her approach is to bring a hands-on and interactive format to her work which includes the morphing of different art forms in order to teach one area which could include technology drama, music, art, writing and social issues. Past projects include poetry and performance with the BlackFriars Settlement (girls aged 11- 16) and Women’s Library, performances and writing projects in London and South-East England primary and secondary schools, the Deptford Identity Project (Artefacts Edutainment) with refugees, lone parents and pensioners, pre-school aged puppetry as part of the Oxfam festival, and historical drama/ writing workshops at Hampton Court PalaceHampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
for primary/secondary level. Heather also has her TESOL Certification to teach children English as a second language.
Poetry Collections
- Sick Day Afternoons (Popodnevna Bolovanja) (2009), ISBN 8-686337-29-0
- Horizon and Back (2005), ISBN 1-904551-17-3
- She Never Talks of Strangers (2003), a chapbookChapbookA chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...
, ISBN 1-904551-07-6.
Films
- Wild West Dream at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- The Last Thakur at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
Anthologies
- A View from the Lighthouse (2009), ISBN 1-904661-70-6
- City Lighthouse (2009), ISBN 1-904551-58-4
- Storm Between Fingers (2007), ISBN 1-905233-13-2
- His Rib (2007), ISBN 0-9789695-2-9
- This Poem Is Sponsored By... (2007), ISBN 0-9553431-1-9
- Malika's Poetry Kitchen's Handmade Fire (2006), ISBN 1-905233-10-8
- Future Welcome: The Moosehead Anthology X (2005), ISBN 1-897190-06-9
- Dance the Guns to Silence : 100 poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa (2005), ISBN 1-905233-01-9
- Audition Arsenal for Women in Their 20s: 101 Monologues by Type, 2 Minutes & Under (2005), ISBN 1-57525-396-8
- Tall-lighthouse Poetry Review (2004), ISBN 1-904551-19-X
- In the Criminal's Cabinet (2004), ISBN 0-9546268-1-8
- Teen Angst: A Celebration of Really Bad Poetry (2005), ISBN 0-312-33474-5
External links
- Official Website
- Tall Lighthouse Books
- BBC
- Let's Talk PayPal
- Acting CV (as Heather Arness)
- Plays by Heather Taylor listed on Doollee Playwright's Database
- Technology for Marketing & Advertising - Day 1
- giffgaff - showing us the future, Headstream
- Tips for managing an online community
- Digital Surrey, giffgaff and a model for a community powered business
- Communities – Legacy Platforms And Structures Can Hamper Community Building
- Social Media Week in Review, Gorkanapr
- Extended podcast from the Fonecast with Heather Taylor, 28th January 2011
- Social Recruiting Conference Feedback
- The Positive Cult of giffgaff, the Fonecast
- Giffgaff proves communities respond to being rewarded, New Media Age
- First step when building online community is weighing up customer desire, New Media Age
- Geeks Speak: The social media machine, IT in Canada
- Transcripts of Foviance Customer Service roundtable discussion [PDF, Fovience]
- Article on National Complaints Day discussions, MyCustomer.com
- Social Media Workshop Success, Digital White
- Community Relations, Redcatco
- Social Media in Business Conference, Social Recruiter
- Recording of Heather Taylor's talk at SMIB10, PCM Creative
- The Media Coach – 28th May 2010 interview, The Media Coach Radio Show
- Heather Taylor returns to E-Town for EIFF, The Gateway
- Hometown advantage, The Edmonton Journal
- The Last Thakur review, Telegraph
- Review: The Turner Plays At Camden Fringe, Londonist
- London Theatre Guide Review of Hostage/ Bleach/ Burn, London Theatre Guide
- Metaroar review : Hostage/ Bleach/ Burn, Metaroar
- Londonist Review: Hostage/ Bleach / Burn, Londonist
- Writers on Writing: Heather Taylor, Writers on Writing, Issue # 10
- Accents on Words : Lewisham Library, Edit Red
- Stand up for your Writes, Metro
- Wolf Review: She Never Talks of Strangers, The Wolf, Issue 6