Mary Ann Taylor-Hall
Taylor-Hall sits in her solid home, holding a photo of the tarpaper shack it once was.
In 1976, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall came to Kentucky for what she expected would be a two-month stay. Her first marriage had fallen apart, and friends who had a farm on the Harrison-Scott County line offered her a tarpaper shack to live in while she figured out what came next.
The land soon wove its way into Taylor-Hall’s writing, as if her voice had always been looking for its place. She worked the night watch on a horse farm, learned how to wield a hammer and run plumbing, raised much of her own food, and scraped by on a few thousand dollars a year.
Over time, the tarpaper shack became a solid home. Taylor-Hall and her husband, the writer and photographer James Baker Hall, lived there together until Jim passed away in 2009.
Taylor-Hall’s books include the poetry collection Out of Nowhere, the novels Come and Go, Molly Snow and At the Breakers, and How She Knows What She Knows About Yo-Yos, a book of short stories.
Listen to Mary Ann Taylor-Hall talk about how living in the country shapes her writing life.
Taylor-Hall and Joey head out on their daily walk.
Pausing under a majestic oak on the way to the ridge.
Taylor-Hall and Burr at rest on the ridge.