Christine “Chris” Taylor (writing as PortiaLily Taylor) has worn several hats in her professional career. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, she worked as the chief attorney for a state agency and later as a lawyer in private practice. Upon moving to Memphis, Tennessee, she taught law school classes and worked as a Legal Services attorney. From there, she went to Nashville where she was a state agency director and then a college Legal Studies director and professor. A move to Arizona found Taylor writing K-12 classroom grants, organizing reading-related events, and working at the University of Phoenix. Wishing to again work directly with students, she accepted a position with Southern Utah University as its Legal Studies Director and prelaw advisor.

Throughout her legal and academic career, Taylor continued her long-loved interest in writing by creating legal documents, law-related handbooks, and academic curricula. Taylor’s grant writing experience led her to be asked to write Granted! a teacher’s guide to writing and winning classroom grants, published by Five Star. Taylor has also written the e-textbook, Introduction to Law, offered through the educational platform TopHat.

Publication of her creative writing began with poetry published through the Oklahoma Arts Commission and works published in the Kolob Canyon Review. Since there are several other “Chris Taylor” authors, she now writes fiction as PortiaLily Taylor, her pen name. PortiaLily’s fiction includes Shell Shock: a screenplay and Paper Lives, a collection of short stories. Her middle grade novel, Captain Con and the Red Jacket, is published by Lawley Publishing Company with illustrations by Michelle Savoia.

Taylor now lives in Arizona with her husband and two dogs where she loves to look out her window at the desert flora and write. She teaches writing-related classes in her community and is a member of several writers’ groups, the Arizona Authors Association, and the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators.