Carolyn Jess-Cooke (born 26 August 1978 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a poet and novelist from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Early life

Carolyn Jess-Cooke was born in

, Northern Ireland in 1978. She was educated at

The Queen's University of Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, where she received a BA (Hons), MA, and PhD by the age of 25. At 26 she took up a lectureship in

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies. ...

at the

University of Sunderland , mottoeng = Sweetly absorbing knowledge , established = 1901 - Sunderland Technical College1969 - Sunderland Polytechnic1992 - University of Sunderland (gained university status) , staff = , chancellor = Emeli ...

, where she established herself as a film theorist, publishing numerous articles and books and receiving a reference in ''Who's Who in Research: Film''. She took up a senior lectureship in

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at the

University of Northumbria , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

in 2009 but tendered her resignation to write full-time in January 2011, and is currently Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. She has four children and lives outside Glasgow. Prominent themes in Jess-Cooke's work include trauma, motherhood, and feminism.

Career

Jess-Cooke now publishes her fiction as CJ Cooke. She is the author of bestselling

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

novels, ''The Nesting'' (2020), which was published in 2021 in the UK and Commonwealth by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, ''The Lighthouse Witches'', which was nominated for ITW Thriller Awards and an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

from

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

, an
optioned for a TV series
by

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

, and ''The Ghost Woods'' (2022), which was an

Indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

Book of the Year 2022. Jess-Cooke regularly visits the place where she sets her books to carry out fieldwork and interviews. Jess-Cooke's

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

has also appeared in

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

Poetry London ''Poetry London'' is a literary periodical based in London. Published three times a year, it features poems, reviews, and other articles. Profile Adopting the title of an earlier bimonthly publication which ran from 1939 to 1951, ''Poetry London' ...

Poetry New Zealand Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

Poetry Ireland Review ''Poetry Ireland Review'' is a journal of Irish poetry published three times a year by Poetry Ireland, the national Irish poetry organisation. ''Poetry Ireland Review'' publishes the work of both emerging and established Irish and international ...

, The Wolf, Magma,

Poetry Wales ''Poetry Wales'' is a triannual poetry magazine published in Bridgend, Wales. Founded by Meic Stephens and now published by Seren, it is edited by Zoë Brigley. Since its first publication in 1965, the magazine has built an international reput ...

, The Lonely Poets' Guide to Belfast,

Black Mountain Review The Black Mountain poets, sometimes called projectivist poets, were a group of mid-20th-century American ''avant-garde'' or postmodern poets centered on Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Background Although it lasted only twenty-three y ...

, Ambit,

Tower Poetry Tower Poetry is an organisation affiliated with Christ Church, Oxford that aims to promote the reading and writing of poetry in young people. The group is funded by a donation from the late Christopher Tower, and run by Oxford University lecturer ...

, ''The SHOp'', and in a ribbon of steel that runs for half a mile throughout the Roseberry Park mental health hospital in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Her debut poetry collection, ''Inroads'', received an

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...

, the Northern Promise Award, the

Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his ...

Prize for Poetry, and was shortlisted for the New London Poetry Award in 2010. In 2020, Jess-Cooke set up a virtual literary festival
The Stay-at-Home Literary Festival
which featured hundreds of writers, attracted audiences of over 15,000 and ran for two weeks throughout the pandemic. Jess-Cooke is Reader in Creative Writing at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

where she leads research in the field of creative writing interventions for mental illness.

Bibliography

Fiction * 2011 ''The Guardian Angel's Journal'' (Little, Brown/Piatkus) * 2012 ''The Boy Who Could See Demons'' (Little, Brown/Piatkus) * 2017 ''I Know My Name'' (HarperCollins) * 2019 ''The Blame Game'' (HarperCollins * 2020 ''The Nesting'' (HarperCollins) * 2021 ''The Lighthouse Witches'' (HarperCollins) * 2022 ''The Ghost Woods'' (HarperCollins) Poetry * 2021 ''We Have To Leave The Earth'' (Siren) * 2014 ''BOOM!'' (Seren) * 2010 ''Inroads'' (Seren) Non-Fiction * 2007 ''Shakespeare on Film: Such Things As Dreams Are Made of'' (London: Wallflower) * 2009 ''Apocalyptic Shakespeares'' (co-edited with M. Croteau) (McFarland) * 2010 ''Film Sequels'' (Edinburgh University Press) * 2010 ''Second Takes: Critical Approaches to the Film Sequel'' (co-edited with C. Verevis) (SUNY) * 2014 ''Writing Motherhood'' (Siren)

References

External links

* * Research websit
Writing Mental Health
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jess-Cooke, Carolyn 1978 births Living people Women poets from Northern Ireland Women photographers from Northern Ireland Writers from Belfast Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Academics of the University of Sunderland 21st-century women writers from Northern Ireland