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Astra Taylor

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Astra Taylor
Taylor in 2014
Born (1979-09-30) September 30, 1979 (age 46)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
EducationThe New School
Spouse
​
(m. 2005)​
[1]
RelativesSunaura Taylor (sister)

Astra Taylor (born September 30, 1979)[2] is a Canadian-American documentary filmmaker, writer, activist, and musician. She is a fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation for her work on challenging predatory debt practices.[3]

Life

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Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Taylor grew up in Athens, Georgia,[4] and was unschooled until age 13 when she enrolled in ninth grade.[5] At 16 she abandoned high school to attend classes at the University of Georgia; at the university she studied Deleuze and Guattari under Ronald L. Bogue.[6][7]

Taylor enrolled at Brown University, where she attended classes for a year before dropping out.[8] Taylor completed a Master of Arts in liberal studies at The New School.[6]

Taylor has taught sociology at the University of Georgia and SUNY New Paltz. Her writings have appeared in numerous magazines, including Dissent,[9] n+1,[10] Adbusters,[11] The Baffler,[12] The Nation,[13] Salon,[14] and the London Review of Books.[15]

Taylor at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society in 2015

Taylor is the sister of painter and disability activist Sunny Taylor,[16] and is married to Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel.[17] She joined Neutral Milk Hotel onstage for a number of shows in 2013 and 2014, playing guitar and accordion.[18] She is a vegan.[19] She lives in New York City.[20]

Her book The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 2024 Governor General's Awards.[21] The book was also a finalist for the 2024 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.[22]

Activism

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Taylor was active in the Occupy movement and was the co-editor of Occupy!: An OWS-Inspired Gazette with Sarah Leonard and Keith Gessen.[23][24] The broadsheet covered Occupy Wall Street in five issues over the course of the first year of the occupation and was later anthologized by Verso Books.[25] Taylor is a co-founder of Debt Collective, a debtors' union fighting to cancel debts.[26][27][28]

Taylor has resisted the label "activist" in her writing.[29] She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America[30] and on the Progressive International council.[31][32] She supports a boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers and literary festivals. She was an original signatory of the manifesto "Refusing Complicity in Israel's Literary Institutions".[33][34] She has been described as a Marxist in light of her concern with the political economy and the productive forces.[35]

In 2026, Taylor endorsed Avi Lewis in that year's federal NDP leadership race.[36]

Works

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Film

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Writing

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  • Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers (editor), The New Press, 2009, ISBN 9781595584472[42]
  • Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America (co-editor with Keith Gessen), Verso Books, 2012, ISBN 9781844679409[43]
  • The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, 2014, ISBN 9780007525591[44]
  • "The faux-bot revolution", in A Field Guide to The Future of Work, Royal Society of Arts Future Work Centre, 2018[45]
  • Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone, Metropolitan Books, 2019, ISBN 9781250179845[46]
  • Can't Pay, Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition (foreword), Haymarket Books, 2020, ISBN 9781642594003[47]
  • Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions, Haymarket Books, 2020, ISBN 9781642594546[48]
  • The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (CBC Massey Lectures), House of Anansi Press, 2023, ISBN 978-1-4870-1193-2[49]
  • End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World (with Naomi Klein), Knopf Canada, 2026, ISBN 9781039059375[50]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Taylor, Astra. "Rare personal post, seizing the moment to correct the record. Today I'm officially 21 yrs wed to my favorite most special human Jeff Mangum. For some reason the Internet/Wikipedia says we got hitched in Jan 2008, but it was June 9 2005. (Don't believe what you read online & always wear a lampshade.)". Bluesky. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  2. ↑ Tortorici, Dayna, ed. (2013), "Group three", No Regrets: Three Discussions, Brooklyn, New York: n+1 Books, p. 71
  3. ↑ "Astra Taylor". Shuttleworth Foundation. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019.
  4. ↑ Dawson, Nick (February 25, 2009). "Astra Taylor, Examined Life". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
  5. ↑ Drew, Michelle. "Interview with Unschooled Filmmaker, Astra Taylor". CitizenShift. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
  6. 1 2 Cohn, Pamela (November 1, 2008). "Interview: Astra Taylor, Director EXAMINED LIFE". Still in Motion. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009.
  7. ↑ Kaplan, Zachary; Taylor, Astra (March 9, 2015). "Digital Democracy and Direct Action". DIS Magazine. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  8. ↑ Taylor, Astra (January 16, 2014). "The Unschooled Life: Astra Taylor's Story". PopularResistance.Org. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Authors: Astra Taylor". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Astra Taylor - Authors". n+1. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Astra Taylor". Adbusters. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Astra Taylor". The Baffler. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Author Bios: Astra Taylor". The Nation. April 2, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Astra Taylor". Salon.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Astra Taylor". The London Review of Books. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  16. ↑ Abrams, Kathryn (October 1, 2011). "Performing Interdependence: Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor in The Examined Life". Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. 21 (2): 73. doi:10.7916/CJGL.V21I2.2635.
  17. ↑ Brown, Jake (January 9, 2008). "Jeff Mangum, Astra Taylor Married". Glorious Noise. Archived from the original on July 12, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  18. ↑ Jarnow, Jesse (October 14, 2013). "Neutral Milk Hotel's First Show in 15 Years Was Ragged, Glorious". SPIN. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  19. ↑ Taylor, Astra; Taylor, Sunaura (November 2021). "Our Animals, Ourselves". Lux Magazine. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
  20. ↑ Taylor, Astra (2014). The People's Platform. New York: Random House Canada.
  21. ↑ Drudi, Cassandra (October 8, 2024). "Canisia Lubrin, Danny Ramadan among 2024 Governor General's Literary Award finalists". Quill and Quire. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing". Writers' Trust of Canada. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Read Our New Gazette". n+1. October 21, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  24. ↑ Lim, Audrea (January 24, 2012). "A Roundtable with the editors of Occupy!". Verso. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Occupy!". Verso. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  26. ↑ Remake the World: (Part 1), May 4, 2021, archived from the original on December 15, 2021, retrieved May 14, 2021
  27. ↑ Appel, Hannah; Taylor, Astra (July 23, 2024). "'You Are Not A Loan!' Introducing the Nation's First Debtors' Union". In These Times. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  28. ↑ "About". Hidden Driver. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
  29. ↑ Taylor, Astra (2021). Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions. Haymarket Books. ISBN 978-1-64259-454-6.
  30. ↑ Taylor, Astra; Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta (August 31, 2023). "You Can't Be a Socialist Alone". In These Times. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  31. ↑ Progressive International [@ProgIntl] (September 19, 2023). "Astra Taylor (@astradisastra) is a political organizer, writer and documentary filmmaker. She is co-founder of the Debt Collective @StrikeDebt. Her latest book is The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
  32. ↑ "Council". Progressive International. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  33. ↑ "Letter: Refusing Complicity in Israel's Literary Institutions". Publishers for Palestine. October 28, 2024. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  34. ↑ Sheehan, Dan (October 28, 2024). "Thousands of Authors Pledge to Boycott Israeli Cultural Institutions". Literary Hub. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  35. ↑ Lovink, Geert (May 30, 2014). "Beyond digital discontent: A conversation with Astra Taylor". Eurozine. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
  36. ↑ "Endorsements". lewisisleader.ca. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  37. ↑ Scott, A. O. (November 18, 2005). "Sampling the Churning Mind of a Celebrity Philosopher". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  38. ↑ Mattin, David (April 27, 2007). "Zizek! (2007)". BBC. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
  39. ↑ Nussbaum, Martha (January 3, 2010). "Inheriting Socrates". The Point Magazine. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  40. ↑ Phillips, Charlie (June 11, 2018). "What Is Democracy? review searing analysis of who's really in control". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  41. ↑ Brown, Drew (September 11, 2018). "The Epic Conversation About Democracy We Need Right Now". Vice. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  42. ↑ Dougherty, Sally (December 2009). "Book Review Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers edited by Astra Taylor". Theosophy Northwest. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  43. ↑ "Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America". Publishers Weekly. January 23, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  44. ↑ Wu, Tim (July 18, 2014). "Content and Its Discontents". The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  45. ↑ Taylor, Astra (January 14, 2019). "The faux-bot revolution". The RSA. Medium. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  46. ↑ "Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone by Astra Taylor". Publishers Weekly. March 22, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  47. ↑ Taylor, Jaime (March 3, 2021). "Can't Pay Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition. Debt Collective. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2020. Paper, $15 (ISBN: 978-1-64259-262-7)". College & Research Libraries. 82 (2). ISSN 2150-6701.
  48. ↑ Thier, Hadas (October 16, 2021). "Ten Years After Occupy, We Have a Left That Matters". Jacobin. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  49. ↑ Timpf, Lisa (May 29, 2024). "The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart By Astra Taylor". The Miramichi Reader. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  50. ↑ Lee, Sophie (September 13, 2026). "A New Book Explains Why Today's Brand of Fascism May Be the Most Pernicious Yet". Cultured Mag. Retrieved September 13, 2026.
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