BIO

T COOPER is the author of three novels, including The Beaufort Diaries and Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes. He is also editor of an anthology of original stories entitled A Fictional History of the United States With Huge Chunks Missing. A new book is forthcoming in fall 2012 (from McSweeney’s Books).

T Cooper was born and raised in Los Angeles, attended Middlebury College in Vermont, and then taught high school in New Orleans before settling in New York City in 1996. He earned an MFA from Columbia University, and in addition to his novels, T’s work has appeared in a variety of publications and anthologies, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Believer, One Story, and some others. His short story “Swimming” was one of “100 Distinguished Stories of 2007″ in The Best American Short Stories 2008 (ed. Salman Rushdie).

T has been awarded residencies to The MacDowell Colony, Ledig House International, and The Millay Colony (where he was The New York Times Foundation Fellow). He has taught at places like the Writers Institute of Miami Dade College and The Bronx Academy of Letters, and most recently he was a visiting faculty member at Middlebury College.

T also adapted and produced a short film based on his graphic novel The Beaufort Diaries. The animated short, directed by the book’s illustrator Alex Petrowsky and starring actor David Duchovny, was an official selection at several film festivals in 2011, including Tribeca Film Festival, South By Southwest, The New Orleans Film Fest, and the Anchorage International Film Festival.

T enjoys vintage airplanes, M*A*S*H, world peace, and anything to do with pit bull advocacy. He lives with his family.

top photo by CLAYTON COTTERELL