Lisa C. Taylor

Lisa C. Taylor holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast/University of Southern Maine. She has three published collections of poetry, most recently Interrogation of Morning, two published collections of short stories, and her first novel, The Shape of What Remains, will be published in late February 2025. Lisa’s honors include the Elizabeth Shanley Gerson Lecture in Irish Literature with Irish writer Geraldine Mills in 2011, a Surdna Arts Fellowship that enabled her to spend a summer in Ireland writing, a Hugo House New Works Fiction Award, a Colorado Creative Industries/National Endowment for the Arts Grant to run a youth writing and art program in 2022, and Pushcart nominations in fiction and poetry, and Best-of-the-Net nominations in fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in anthologies and numerous literary journals. Lisa formerly taught creative writing at a university and an arts magnet high school. She currently teaches online and co-directs the Mesa Verde Writers Conference and Literary Festival with writer, Mark Stevens. Lisa is a frequent presenter at conferences and events, most recently The Raymond Carver Festival in Port Angeles, WA, and Write on the Sound in Edmonds, WA.

Student Feedback for Lisa

Lisa is generous and enthusiastic. She was particularly generous in offering guidance and encouragement about getting published, which was new for me, and invaluable. The topic, the assignments, and most importantly the quality of the work and the feedback offered by my fellow students were excellent. Interaction with fellow students throughout the week was the highlight. Peter Taylor

I thoroughly enjoyed the course. It motivated me to settle down and write, which is exactly what I was hoping. Lisa is a knowledgeable and dedicated instructor. Judith O’Leary

Lisa C. Taylor is a truly all-around phenomenal teacher. She kept us engaged and knows how to keep it interesting. She is very understanding and sweet. Great person and professor. Briana D.

Lisa created a stress-free classroom environment where everyone was encouraged to have their voice be heard. Each class was about something completely different. Brett S.

Lisa C. Taylor made us use our creativity to write and share with the class. She encouraged us to step out of the box and helped us to connect with each other. The activities were great and she was prepared for discussions every class. Caitlin F.

Extremely well-organized! I will use every piece of this material in my own classroom instruction. Lisa offered inspirational and practical information from which her students could draw. She provided exercises (ingenious, in my opinion) for getting reluctant students to write as well as offering evidence of their effectiveness. Great job! Jan G.

The room could hardly contain her passion for language, poetry, and teaching. I left this workshop strengthened as a writer, teacher, and human being. Darlene R.

The class discussed ZZ Packer’s story, “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere”. Here Professor Taylor handled what could have been a tough moment with compassion, wisdom, and grace. A few admitted they didn’t like the story because they could not identify with the unhappy main character. As one student remarked, the main character “had the world at her fingertips” as a college student at an Ivy League university. Professor Taylor thanked the student for her honesty and encouraged all the students to engage in an open and honest discussion about the issues related to the story, one of which was how to present class and race struggles in your work without sounding preachy or whiny or alienating readers. The discussion’s progression from judging the character to trying to understand her was impressive.  Dr. Dan Donaghy, Eastern Connecticut State University