Learning to Read - Pt. 1 A little series on how I went from not being able to read at 18, to becoming a writer. Part 1 - my first book. Autumn 2008.

To coincide with the #NationalYearOfReading2026, I've created a mini-series on how I learnt to read. At 18, like many boys from children's homes, I couldn't. Now I hold a master's degree from Oxford. Check it out if you'd like to see how I got there.

#GoAllIn2026

My family has never believed in Father Christmas – I don't want to hurt my kids if the money ever runs out | Matt Taylor I would never want them to feel that they had been naughty if I couldn’t afford their gifts one year, says writer and music producer Matt Taylor

Got asked to share my awkward views about Santa in a piece for @theguardian.com. First time having a piece like this in a national, what a way to wind up 2025. If you want to see me have a good Xmas roast, check the comments 😎

Thanks @jonnelledge.bsky.social for helping with the pitch. 🙏

I’ve been blown away by the response to my little piece about obtaining photographs from growing up in care. Thanks everyone for coming with me on this journey. 🙏

#underresprentedwriters #cep

✨🏆 I won an award. 🤯

Every year for 4yrs, I’ve submitted something to the @creativefutureuk writing competition, and usually my piece gets ignored. This year, I won the Bronze Award for Creative Non-Fiction.

My first proper commission - I actually got paid to write something 🤯 I wrote a little piece for @beelitmag.bsky.social about why I can't wear tracksuit anymore. Class has a uniform - prove me wrong.

Your kinda missing the point of the piece 🤦‍♂️

Thanks so much for the comment. It really means a lot 🙂

I met Giles Martin - Not the normal I ever dared to expect. Most days, this life now feels ordinary. I’m not gonna lie, I take it for granted. Yet every so often these moments remind me of how unusual it is that someone from my background gets to be in them.

Statistics don’t capture our stories. #Careleavers in the creative industries remain undocumented. Invisible. I suppose this isn’t surprising, as this is how we are in society. Invisible. People only keep stats on things they care about. People don’t care enough about care leavers doing well.

Thanks for sharing 🙏

I completely get and understand that and those things should never be underplayed. But those who suffer the worst misogyny and/or racism are those from the lower classes. For me, someone who grew up in children’s homes to having some marginal success in music, I can tell you it’s brutal!

Apply To Play Vote - Y Not Festival

A band I'm in, Isaac Neilson, has been shortlisted to play this year's #YNOTFestival. Isaac and I are both council estate kids, & opportunities like this don't show up often. Do #Samfender proud and give us a vote. 🙏

Type Isaac Neilson into the search box and vote. 🗳️

I met my younger self for coffee today. Inspired by Jennae Cecelia's poem in her book 'deep in my feels'. A reflective lyric essay on some time with my younger self who most people don't believe exists.

The music industry is not for #careexperience people like me. This week #samfender highlighted the struggle of working-class people in the industry. I sat down with my written off 15yr old self for coffee to see what he would make of me now smashing it.

#CEP #careleaver

I’m always blown away when people like my writing enough to share it. Thanks @iandunt.bsky.social Obtaining photos for care leavers is a big issue that is never talked about. We don’t get them because you can’t redact a photograph.

Of course! It’s really moving. It has bad it hasn’t if that makes sense. It’s because the system never takes into account how transactional every relationship is to a child in care.

Lemn subscribes to my Substack

Thanks so much for sharing this Ian. I’ve been trying to work out why my Substack had gone crazy today 😂

R-A-T: The three letter word I'll never be able to say Have you really left your hometown if its myths still control the way you speak? How the folklore of the Isle of Man has kept me there despite leaving 15 years ago. Will I ever escape this Alcatraz?

I learn from @matt-taylor.bsky.social that a) on the Isle of Man you can't say "rat"; b) there's a "fairy bridge" where you have to thank the fairies or taxi drivers will literally stop? Matt wrote about it here. What, I ask, the hell

Thanks for the share Jonn. Wait till you hear about the fairy bridge 😂

Matt Taylor | Substack I’m an award-winning writer & music producer with a remarkable journey. Creative non-fiction/essay writer, rep’d by Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown. Writing about the UK care system & being a careleaver...

Over the past year, I've been part of a development programme for working-class writers, called A Writing Chance. I've been partnered with @jonnelledge.bsky.social to develop a Substack Newsletter. Check it out here.

#writers #substack

Hi Séamas 😎 I’m new here but @jonnelledge.bsky.social alerted me to your post. Thanks so much for for liking my piece enough to share it. 🙏