Marianne Taylor (TPP 1989) has been teaching elementary art and media literacy in the Brookline Schools since 1991 and has been the Supervising Practitioner for nine of our student teachers.

In recent years she has also been pursuing  a writing  career and has had short stories published in Ms. Magazine, where she won the 2005 Fiction Contest; The Boston Review; and other publications.  Her second book The Book of Cool:  What Is It?  Who Decides It? And Why Do We Care So Much? was published in June 2009.  It’s a sociological investigation of the social label “cool.”  Marianne details the history of cool and its current manifestations. She charts  the evolution of cool from the sidewalks to the marketplace, separating who creates cool from who merely markets it.

Photo by Bill Brett, Boston Globe

Marianne’s first book The Starving Artist’s Survival Guide, (Simon and Schuster, 2005)  co-authored with Laurie Lindop,  is a darkly humorous look at the plight of the artist.  Topics include pros and cons of various day jobs, a survey of artists’ dwellings, classifications of critic types, coping with rejection, and reasons to carry on.  Supportive friends and humor are among the best survival tactics presented.

In order to continue writing, Marianne is now teaching  three days a week rather than full-time at the Driscoll School.

Marianne will be giving a reading at the Brookline Booksmith Wednesday November 18th at 7:00 pm.