Ellen M. Taylor

Professor of English, Dr. Ellen M. Taylor received her doctorate in the Language, Literacy, and Culture program at Harvard University, focusing on narrative development. She completed her BA in English at Tulane University, and her MA in poetry from the University of New Hampshire.

Her signature classes at UMA include Creative Writing, which focuses on the short story, poetry, and mixed genres; American Stories: Reading and Writing Memoir; as well as literature, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her research interests include the work of 19th century writer Celia Thaxter, and Maine poets Elizabeth Coatsworth and Kate Barnes. She teaches at the Augusta campus, as well as in Rockland and at the Maine State Prison. Her courses are a combination of lecture, discussion, and writing exercises. All are writing intensive.

Dr. Taylor has three poetry collections from Moon Pie Press, Homelands (2022), Compass Rose (2015), and Floating (2009), as well as two chapbooks Humming to Snails (2005), and Letters from the Third World by Sheltering Pines Press (2006). Taylor chairs the annual Terry Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival, held each April at UMA. She has published in literary journals regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Conference Presentations

“Neuralgia and Nasturtium: Celia Thaxter’s Gardening Rest Cure: to be presented at the Study of American Women Conference, Philadelphia, PA, November 2025. 

“Words, Sentences, and Lives: The Emancipatory Power of Prison Education,” presented at the National Conference for Higher Education in Prison, New Orleans, LA, April 10, 2025.

“Celia Thaxter’s Ecological Cautions,” presentation at Jewett Unbound Conference at the University of Paris, Paris, France, October 18th, 2024.

“Agency and Empowerment: Bridging the Gap between Personal and Academic Writing,” presentation at the National Conference on Higher Education in Prison, Atlanta, GA, November 9-11, 2024.

Community Service

Peer Reviewer for the Edna Saint Vincent Millay House residency, spring 2024 and spring 2025. 

Poetry Out Loud Judging, Maine Arts Academy, January 16, 2025.

Ted and Ruth Bookey Memorial Poetry Series, guest reading, September 14, 2024.

Board of Trustees, Appleton Library, Appleton ME, 2022-present.

Summer Poetry Group, Rockport Public Library, 2023. Bimonthly group meeting to write and critique new poetry.

Peer Reviewer for NCHEP 2023 conference, 2023, Atlanta, GA., July 2023. 

Rockport Summer Poetry Group Co-Facilitator, June-September, 2023.

Vice Chair of Appleton Library Board, Appleton, ME. 2022-present.

Leeds Community School poetry workshops, Youth Write the Land, March 20 and 27, 2023.

John Bapst High School poetry workshop, March 1, 2023.

Guest speaker for Prison Education Program dedication of table at Katz Library, UMA, February 22, 2023. 

Restorative Justice Reading Group June 2022, Rockland (ME) Public Library.

 Trauma & Resiliency Informed Facilitation training for MHC Facilitators with Arabella Pérez, August 2021.

 “Interacting with Wabanaki Maine History” workshop offered by Wabanaki REACH and sponsored by Maine Humanities Council, June 2021.

Writing the Land: this group is a partnership between environmental and creative communities, across the United States. 2020-present.

Guest poet at Monmouth High School (Monmouth, ME) Reading Poetry Workshop, March 8, 2021.

Guest poet at John Bapst High School, Bangor, ME. Reading and writing workshop for AP high school students, January 14, 2021.