Baller Boys

About Venessa Taylor

Venessa Taylor brings two decades of experience as an inner-city primary school teacher and assistant headteacher to the creation of the Baller Boys series. Aimed at encouraging young boys to find pleasure in reading, the football-themed stories are written with young readers in mind.

Born and raised in London, Venessa continues her legacy as a literacy lead in schools through her creative writing. One of her proudest career achievements was raising the standards of reading, literary engagement and attainment across the school with a focus of engaging boys and reluctant readers. Venessa researched and identified what students would respond best to in terms of content, characters and setting. She soon realised that what the boys wanted to read about was not readily available, so took the challenge upon herself to inspire and encourage more young people - boys in particular - to read. Venessa wrote the Baller Boys series to empower young readers, to reflect the diversity football brings in a community, and showcase different families, lives and challenges. Venessa continues to be inspired daily by her grandsons. The stories are dedicated to her son-in-law, 'Coach Reece', who died suddenly in 2017 - Reece Darcheville and his wife (Venessa's daughter) Shenna, were an integral part of the development of the story ideas, plot lines and characters. With her family's input and insight from the children she has taught over the years, Venessa is proud to have crafted an authentic, original, inclusive series that she hopes all young readers will enjoy - in and out of school! Venessa lives in Essex and is an ambassador for various leukaemia and cancer charities. Venessa was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2016 and is in remission despite being unable to find a donor.

Find Venessa on Instgram @ballerboysbooks