David Taylor

At Johns Hopkins, David A. Taylor is a lecturer for the MA in Science Writing program.

Taylor is an author whose books include the award-winning Ginseng, the Divine Root and Soul of a People, which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ranked among the best books of 2009. His latest book is Cork Wars, which received an Independent Publisher Book Award for world history.

Taylor writes for the Washington Post, Discover, Science, Smithsonian, The Millions, Undark, and Washingtonian. He has written scripts for National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, and Smithsonian channels, and his awards in documentary film include CINE Golden Eagle Awards, TIVA-DC Peer Awards, and a Writers Guild of America award nomination.

Taylor’s work on five continents has been supported by a Career Grant from the National Association of Science Writers, a CASE Media Fellowship, grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities, and fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. With a fellowship from the International Reporting Project, he reported on malaria research and prevention in West Africa. He has also written for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is a member of National Association of Science Writers and the Society of Environmental Journalists and has a bachelor’s degree in English from Davidson College. He has taught at The Writer’s Center and as a PEN/Faulkner visiting writer at Washington, D.C., public schools. He also publishes fiction. To learn more, visit www.davidataylor.org.

Awards

• Hawthornden Writing Fellowship, Hawthornden Foundation, April 2022
• Independent Publisher Book Award, World History, Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II, Independent Publisher magazine, 2019

Featured Works

• “How Researchers Preserved Histories of Formerly Enslaved Virginians,” David A. Taylor, Washington Post Magazine, July 19, 2022
• “Undercover Operation to Save Endangered Animals Inspires Graphic Novel,” David A. Taylor, Washington Post Magazine, April 5, 2022
• “The Futuristic Jet Pack Never Quite Took Off – But One Man Did, Over and Over,” David A. Taylor, Washington Post Magazine, January 24, 2022
• “West African Scientists Leading the Science Behind a Malaria Vaccine,” David A. Taylor, Smithsonian, July 13, 2021
• “Solar-Powered Moon Rovers Will Help Scientists Seek Lunar Ice,” David A. Taylor, Discover, July 1, 2021
• “Climate-Change Lessons from an Unlikely Source—America’s Forgotten Cork Crisis,” David A. Taylor, Discover, May 1, 2020
• Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America, David A. Taylor, Turner Publishing, paperback, 2020
• Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018
• Ginseng, the Divine Root: The Curious History of the Plant That Captivated the World, David A. Taylor, Algonquin Books, 2006

Media Mentions

• “Rewriting America: Archival Resources In Creative Culture and Media Productions,” David A. Taylor, Library of Congress, June 16, 2023
• “How Will Chicago Artists Make it Through the Pandemic?” Chicago Tribune, July 15, 2020
• “85 Years Ago, FDR Saved American Writers. Could it Ever Happen Again?” Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2020