Years ago, James Cooper travelled the world over and once spent three months tending sled dogs in Alaska. His work as a teacher took him from southern England to the remote Australian outback, and he completed his Ph.D. while living in a tin shed on 40 acres. Nowadays, his adventures mostly take place on the page. He loves reading and writing poetry and stories that reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary, and his work has appeared in such journals as Dappled Things, Light Poetry Magazine, and Quadrant (forthcoming). He is Senior Editor of inScribe journal and teaches writing and communication at Adelaide’s Tabor College. James counts himself blessed to live in the Adelaide Hills with his wife and two sons. Something About Alaska is his first novel.
Dear James, I read recently your poem Rinosseros in the September Quadrant. I want to say that I was blown away by its originality and joie d’vivre. It’s one of the few Australian poems that has had that effect on me at first reading. I include, Life Cycles by Bruce Dawe, Mangoes by Richard Tipping, Chapel street Burra, SA by Frank McMahon and Imaginary Ladies by Louis Johnson in this august list. I hope to see a lot more of your stuff in Quadrant. All the best, Peter Jeffrey