Cooper, J. California (1940s–)

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Cooper, J. California (1940s–)

African-American playwright and short-story writer. Born Joan California Cooper in Berkeley, California, in 1940s ("A woman who tells her age will tell anything," she once said); children: daughter, Paris A. Williams.

Author of 17 plays anthologized in Eileen J. Ostrow (ed.), Center Stage (1981); shortfiction includes A Piece of Mine (1984), Homemade Love (1986), Some Soul to Keep (1987), The Matter is Life (1992) and The Future Has a Past Stories (2001); also wrote novels Family (1991), In Search of Satisfaction (1994), The Wake of the Wind (1998) and Some People, Some Other Place (2004), among others. Named Black Playwright of the Year (1978) for her play Strangers; won James Baldwin Writing Award (1988) and American Book Award (1989).

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Cooper, J. California (1940s–)

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