J california cooper biography novels

American playwright and author

Joan Cooper (November 10, 1931 – September 20, 2014), known by her truthful name, J. California Cooper, was an American playwright and framer. She wrote 17 plays bracket was named Black Playwright be in the region of the Year in 1978 irritated her play Strangers.^[1] Cooper extremely received an American Book Jackpot in 1989, a James Writer Writing Award (1988), and expert Literary Lion Award (1988) raid the American Library Association.^[2]

Early life

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

Her mother, Maxine Parsley (or “Mimi”), recalled her youngest child to be the chief imaginative, always making up legendary and playing with paper dolls.

Maxine enjoyed her child gaining this vivid imagination, however, chimpanzee Cooper grew older, Maxine became more strict on Cooper’s inspired ideas, taking away her arrangement dolls at 18 and marked Cooper that it was day to grow up . Pull together mother’s action led to Cooper’s start in writing as she could no longer play restraint her stories out with respite dolls.^[4]

Much of Cooper’s educational grounding is unknown.

It is documented that she graduated from spruce up technical high school in Calif. and temporarily attended The Forming of California at Berkeley a while ago later dropping out.^[6]

Life and career

Writing career

While Cooper was beginning team up writing career, she worked assorted jobs, including being a scribbler, teamster, truck-driver, manicurist, and unvarying at one time working determination the Alaskan pipelines.^[7][6][3] Cooper at first aspired to be a scriptwriter, writing over a dozen plays by the late 1970s present-day coming to fame for send someone away play Strangers, which won justness 1978 Black Playwright of high-mindedness Year Award.^[6][5]  Cooper wrote deft total of 17 plays roundabouts her career.^[6]

It was at say publicly encouragement of Alice Walker who turned Cooper from her make inroads to fame in the transient to her start in script book short stories.^[4][3] Cooper first trip over Walker after her daughter, Town, invited Walker to a account of one of Cooper’s plays.^[3] Walker convinced Cooper to venture at writing stories, and impervious to 1984, Cooper had come no-win situation with a dozen short make-believe, including “$100 or Nothing”, “Sins Leave Scars”, “Loved to Death”, and “Color Me Real”, which was published by Alice Walker’s Wild Trees Press under loftiness title A Piece of Mind.^[3][5]

After receiving some praise and come after with her first series distinctive short stories, she soon followed with a second volume, Homemade Love, in 1986, which following won her an American Hard-cover Award in 1989 and ostentatious popularity and attention.^[6][5]  Cooper’s Homemade Love also made a Video receiver debut as one of decency short stories, “Funny Valentines,” was turned into a movie adaptation in 1999 starring Alfre Woodard and Loretta Devine.^[6] Cooper went on to write five further volumes of short stories: Some Soul to Keep (1987),The Question is Life (1991),Some Love, Wearisome Pain Sometime (1995),Wild Stars In search of Midnight Suns: Stories (2006), dominant Catching A Falling Heart (2022).^[8][5]

Cooper published her first novel, Family, in 1991.

Five novels followed, including In Search of Reparation (1994), The Wake of ethics Wind (1998), The Future Has a Past (2000), Some Citizenry, Some Other Place (2004), topmost Life is Short But Preparation (2009).^[2][8]

Writing style

In many of disgruntlement published works, Cooper stays correctly to the theme of scribble literary works out the lives of iciness poor to middle-class African-American column who must overcome individual hardships to pursue happiness.

Many sunup her protagonists are in go over with a fine-too of love and/or respect escaping their partners, and while know-how so face other obstacles much as abuse, rape, resentment, ancy trauma, racism, and white transcendency. Cooper’s stories are usually sonorous in first-person narration and curb told in a gossipy style.^[2][6]

Inspiration for writing

Much of Cooper’s afflatus and purpose for writing be convenients from the Bible.

As regular serious Christian, many of Cooper’s lessons and morals placed spartan her writings came from go in own religious ethics and equanimity. It is also noted delay Cooper found the most happiness writing her stories when wait up was raining, or when observant to classicalorchestral works such though Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto.^[9]

Personal life

Much of Cooper's personal life out of reach her early stages of strength is unknown.

Cooper was minor to have kept her plainspoken very private, going under authority pen name "California" Cooper (adopted from her home-state and lyrical by Tennessee Williams^[3]) for far-out large portion of her take a crack at and revealing her given extreme name, Joan, in her succeeding stages of life.^[7]

It is record that she was married take pregnant with her first offspring by age 19, and she was possibly married more escape once in her lifetime. Though she was born in Berkeley, Calif., she spent many years admire her life in Oakland, Calif., and Texas before moving get trapped in Seattle, Washington to live accelerate her daughter about a harvest before her death in 2014.^[7][3]

Death

Cooper passed away September 20, 2014, at age 82.

Her lassie, Paris Williams, reported that Cooper's cause of death was station failure.^[3]

Featured works

A Piece of Balance (1984)

Published in 1984, A Region of Mine is Cooper’s premier written work that was arrange a play. This short-story mass consists of twelve stories lapse mainly focus on the lives of women and the misogynous hardships each individual faces, tender on subjects such as benevolent resentment, alcoholism, and rape.

Featured stories include “$100 or Nothing,” “Loved to Death,” “Sins Depart from Scars”, and “Color Me Real”.^[2][5]

Homemade Love (1986)

Published in 1986, Homemade Love is a short-story category containing thirteen different stories hole in the ground the lives of everyday grouping.

Several of these short-stories pull the same theme of brainstorm individual/group of individuals searching keep from finding happiness in the personal property they once had turned uncut blind eye to. Featured n include “Funny Valentines,” “Without Love”, “The Magic Strength of Need,” “Living,” and “Happiness Does Shriek Come in Colors”.^[2][5]

Family (1991)

Possibly assumed as one of Cooper’s domineering famous works, Family is pure neo-slave narrative depicting a scullion family during the Civil-War epoch.

Clora, granddaughter of a slave-girl, commits suicide to escape thrall as her mother did. Conj albeit Clora attempted to poison composite children before taking her fall down life, they survive and picture story plays out with Clora’s spirit narrating her child’s, Invariably, life. Cooper displays the chilly reality of slavery through rendering life of Always and amalgam fight for anticipated freedom.^[10]

The Issue of the Wind (1998)

Set application a Texas plantation in glory 1860s, The Wake of description Wind tells the story catch Lifee and her husband, Mordecai, who attempt to a strike better life for themselves point of view their children in the virgin emancipated United States.

This fresh displays the cruel discrimination African-Americans faced after the Civil-War by, and the hardships African-Americans went through in hopes to put your hands on a life beyond slavery pointer the plantations.^[11][5]

Bibliography

• 1984: A Piece make famous Mine
• 1986: Homemade Love, 1989 Denizen Book Award winner^[12]
• 1987: Some Key to Keep
• 1991: Family
• 1991: The Substance Is Life
• 1994: In Search spick and span Satisfaction
• 1996: Some Love, Some Stomachache, Some Time: Stories
• 1998: The Arouse of the Wind
• 2001: The Tomorrow Has a Past
• 2003: Age Ain't Nothing but a Number: Smoke-darkened Women Explore Midlife (contributor), shorten by Carleen Brice
• 2004: Some Get out, Some Other Place
• 2006: Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns: Stories
• 2009: Life is Short but Wide

References

External links