HELLO,
I’M LEILA TAYLOR. I AM A WRITER AND DESIGNER IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
I HAVE 25+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER working for agencies big and small with clients from Fortune 500 companies to museums and non-profits. I’m CURRENTLY CREATIVE DIRECTOR FOR BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY, where I’ve been since 2015. I HAVE TAUGHT AT THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS IN NEW YORK AND RUTGERS UNIVERSITY IN NEW JERSEY. I HAVE A B.S. IN DESIGN FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, an MFA IN GRAPHIC DESIGN FROM YALE UNIVERSITY, and an MA in liberal studies from the New School of Social Research, where I began writing.
My writing focuses on the intersection of history and horror and the gothic in contemporary culture. Author of DARKLY: BLACK HISTORY AND AMERICA’S GOTHIC SOUL (named one of pitchfork’s best music books of 2019), her essays have appeared in Lapham’s Quarterly, The Repeater Book of the Occult, The New Urban Gothic, and Bitter Root Vol. 3: Legacy. She’s given illustrated talks for Columbia University, New York University, the New School, the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, morbid anatomy, THE COLLECTIVE FOR RADICAL DEATH STUDIES. my slides usually look the best.