Trish Cooke (born 1962) is a British playwright, actress, television presenter, scriptwriter and children's author. She was a presenter on the children's series

Playdays ''Playdays'' (known as ''Playbus'' until December 1989) is a British pre-school television programme which ran from 1988 to 1997 on CBBC. The show was the successor to '' Play School'' and, like its predecessor, was designed as an educational p ...

. She also wrote under the pseudonym Roselia John Baptiste.

Life

Cooke was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. Her parents were from

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

, part of the

Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose ancestry originates from the Caribbean or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro-C ...

. She gained a BA in Performing Arts from

Leeds Polytechnic Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The unive ...

before moving to London in 1984 to pursue an acting career. She worked as a stage manager for the Black Theatre Co-operative (now

NitroBeat Nitrobeat is a British theatre company, founded in 1979 as the Black Theatre Co-operative by the playwright Mustapha Matura and the director Charlie Hanson. Early performers with the company included the actor Trevor Laird. The company's first ...

) for six months, and after receiving her Equity card worked as an actor in London and regionally, In 1988 she received a Thames Television Writers Bursary and began a writing residency at the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actress ...

. Between 1988 and 1996 she was a presenter and scriptwriter for ''

'' on

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chil ...

.Royal Literary Fund: Trish Cooke

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

. She also write scripts for ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'', ''

Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

'', ''

The Real McCoy "The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies. History The phr ...

'' and '' Brothers and Sisters''. In 1989 the company Temba staged her play ''Back Street Mammy'', which explored adolescent sexuality and the dilemmas of unplanned pregnancy. In ''Running Dream'' a woman returns to Dominica to find both differences and close ties between her and the sisters she left behind there. Both plays use a

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

to comment on the action. Trish was the Writer in Residence at the Bush Theatre from 2019 to 2021 and is a Royal Literary Fund fellow. Cooke's children's book ''So Much'' (1994) won the 0–5 category of the Nestle Smarties Book Prize, the She/WH Smith’s Under-Fives Book Prize and the

Kurt Maschler Award The Kurt Maschler Award (1982 to 1999) was a British literary award that annually recognised one "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other." Winning authors and ill ...

. It was also Highly Commended for the

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

and was shortlisted for both the Sheffield Children’s Book Award and the Nottinghamshire Children’s Book Award.Trish Cooke - Walker Books
Accessed 1 July 2020. Her series of inter-racial adaptations of children's fairy tales have been popular at the

Theatre Royal Stratford East The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...

. ''Cinderella'' (2007) was the first

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

to be nominated for an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

Works

Plays

* ''Shoppin' People''. Liverpool Playhouse, 1989. * ''Back Street Mammy''. Lyric Hammersmith, 1989; West Yorkshire Playhouse, 1991. Published in K. Harwood, ed., ''First Run 2''. London: Nick Hern Books, 1993. * ''Running Dream''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 1993. Published in K. George, ed., ''Six Plays by Black and Asian Women Writers''. London: Aurora Metro, 1993. * ''Gulp Fiction''. Civic Theatre, Peckham, 1995. * ''Gulp Fiction''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 1996. * ''Pinocchio''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2005. * ''Cinderella''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2007. * ''Anansi Trades Places''. Shaw Theatre, 2007. * ''Aladdin''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2009. * ''Little Red Riding Hood''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2010. * ''Cinderella''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2011. * ''Dick Whittington''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East,2013. * ''Robin Hood''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2015. * ''Left Hangin' '', Bush Theatre, 2015. Published in Reginald Edmund, ed., ''Black Lives, Black Words'', Oberon Books, 2017. * ''Rapunzel''. Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 2017.2018.

Children's books

* ''Mammy, Sugar Falling Down''. Hutchinson, 1989. Illustrated by Alicia Garcia de Lynam. * ''Mrs Molly's Shopping Trolley''. Collins Education, 1990. Illustrated by Rhian Nest James. * ''Looking For Auntie Natal''. Collins Education, 1992. Illustrated by Lynn Armstrong. * ''Mr Pam Pam and the Hullabazoo''. London: Walker Books, 1994. Illustrated by Patrice Aggs. * ''So Much''. London: Walker Books, 1994. Illustrated by

Helen Oxenbury Helen Gillian Oxenbury (born 1938) is an English illustrator and writer of children's picture books. She lives in North London. She has twice won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal, the British librarians' award for illustration and been runner-up ...

. * ''When I Grow Bigger''. London: Walker Books, 1994. Illustrated by John Bendall-Brunello. * ''The Grandad Tree''. London: Walker Books, 2000. Illustrated by Sharon Wilson. * ''Waiting for Baby'' London: Walker Books, 2000. Illustrated by Nicola Smee. * ''Zoom!''. London: Collins, 2000. Illustrated by Alex Ayliffe. * ''The Diary of A Young West Indian Immigrant''. London: Watts, 2001. Illustrated by Brian Duggan. * ''Full, Full, Full of Love''. London: Walker Books, 2003. Illustrated by Paul Howard. * ''Catch!''. London: Scholastic, 2003. Illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max. * ''Hey Crazy Riddle!''. London: Frances Lincoln, 2006. Illustrated by Hannah Shaw. * ''Hoorah for Mary Seacole''. London: Franklin Watts, 2008. Illustrated by Ann Axworthy. * ''No Dinner for Anansi''. London: Franklin Watts, 2009. Illustrated by Emma Shaw-Smith. * ''How Anansi Got His Stories''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Illustrated by Anne Violet. * ''Look Back!''. London: Papillote Press, 2013. Illustrated by Caroline Binch. * ''King Kafu and the Moon''. Pearson, 2016. Illustrated by Andrea Castellani. * ''Tales from the Caribbean''. London: Puffin, 2017. Illustrated by Joe Lillington.

References

External links

Welcome to the Trish Cooke World of Stories!

Interview: Author Trish Cooke
13 April 2015
Trish Cooke in Conversation
15 July 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Trish 1963 births Living people English screenwriters English dramatists and playwrights English children's writers English actresses English people of Dominica descent