Irene Cooper
Filed under: Authors
Irene Cooper is the author of the noir feminist thriller Found, as well as the novel Committal, poet-friendly spy-fy about family. Her first poetry collection, spare change, was a 2022 finalist for the Stafford/Hall Award in the Oregon Book Awards. With Ellen Santasiero, Irene co-edited the anthology Placed: An Encyclopedia of Central Oregon. Poems, stories, essays, and reviews appear in Denver Quarterly, The Feminist Wire, The Rumpus, streetcake, Witness, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Her poetry collection, even my dreams are over the constant state of anxiety, is forthcoming in 2024 from Airlie Press, the non-profit collective where she currently serves as one of six editors.
Irene co-founded and teaches at The Forge, a 10-month online creative writing intensive, teaches in the OSU-Cascades MFA program, and facilitates creative opportunities in community, including Raging Writers/Spoken Words, a free monthly writing workshop and open mic in Bend, OR, co-hosted with Vmello, and Blank Pages Salon, a free monthly online opportunity for writers to gather and share work, co-hosted with her partner, Mike Cooper. Irene supports AIC-directed writing at a regional prison, and lives with her people and Maggie in Oregon.
Website: https://irenecooperwrites.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/icooper435
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irene.cooper.1217
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irenecooper1234/
Winning Entry: Found
Contest Won: North Street Book Prize 2023, First Prize
