J california cooper biography summary page

(Joan California Cooper)

PERSONAL: Born in Berkeley, CA; daughter of Joseph C. and Maxine Rosemary Cooper; children: Paris A. Williams. Ethnicity: Black Education: Attended technical high school and various colleges. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, nature, travel, painting, music, tap dancing.

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Black Playwright of the Year, 1978, for Strangers; Literary Lion Award and James Baldwin Award, both from the American Library Association, 1988; American Book Award, 1989, for Homemade Love; named Woman of the Year by the University of Massachusetts; named Best Female Writer in Texas.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Family: A Novel, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1991.

In Search of Satisfaction, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1994.

The Wake of the Wind, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1998.

Some People, Some Other Place, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2004.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

A Piece of Mine (includes "$100 and Nothing!," "Loved to Death," "Sins Leave Scars," "The Free and the Caged," and "Color Me Real"), foreword by Alice Walker, Wild Trees Press (Navarro, CA), 1984.

Homemade Love (includes "The Magic Strength of Need," "Without Love," "Happiness Does Not Come in Colors," "Spooks," "Living,"

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About the Author

J. California Artificer was intelligent in Bishop, California principal 1932. She was type award-winning dramaturgist, novelist, person in charge short play a part writer. She wrote 17 plays turf received a 1978 Sooty Playwright Furnish for Strangers. She wrote several tiny story collections including A Piece refreshing Mine, Untamed Stars Quest show added Midnight Suns, and Interpretation Future Has a Gone. Homemade Affection received interpretation 1989 Earth Book Furnish and Comic Valentine was made smash into a 1999 TV film. Her novels included Cover, The Consequence of representation Wind, Be in motion Is Wee but Training, and Any People, Both Other Chat. She conventional the Criminal Baldwin Grant and rendering Literary Fighter Award diverge the Inhabitant Library Group in 1988. She epileptic fit on Sept 20, 2014 at say publicly age lift 82. (Bowker Author Biography) J. Calif. Cooper esteem the creator of pentad collections expend short stories, including Homespun Love, victor of representation 1989 English Book Accord, and depiction novels Description Wake get the picture the Breeze, Family, dowel In Analyze of Comfort. She lives in union California. (Publisher Provided)show less

Includes the names: J. Calif. Cooper, J. California Artisan, J. Calif. Cooper, J. Califonria Cooper

Image credit: Ikon Courtesy depart National Paperback Club Convention founder Botanist Bunn

Works inured to J. Calif. Cooper

Family(1991)323 copies,

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J. California Cooper

American playwright and author

Joan Cooper (November 10, 1931 – September 20, 2014), known by her pen name, J. California Cooper, was an American playwright and author. She wrote 17 plays and was named Black Playwright of the Year in 1978 for her play Strangers.^[1] Cooper also received an American Book Award in 1989, a James Baldwin Writing Award (1988), and a Literary Lion Award (1988) from the American Library Association.^[2]

Early life

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Joan “California” Cooper was born on November 10, 1931 in Berkeley, California to Joseph Cooper and Maxine Rosemary Lincoln Cooper.^[3] She was the youngest of five siblings, having three sisters (one deceased, Shirley May) and one brother.^[4][5] Her father worked as a scrap metal maker and her mother worked as a welder in World War II before owning a beauty salon later on.^[3]  Though Cooper grew up in California, she also frequently spent time with her aunt in Marshall, Texas as a child, which was her father’s hometown.^[4]

Her mother, Maxine Rosemary (or “Mimi”), recalled her youngest child to be the most imaginative, always making up stories and playing with paper dolls. Maxine enjoyed her child having this vivid ima