J california cooper biography summary of winston

American playwright and author

Joan Cooper (November 10, 1931 – September 20, 2014), known by her pen name, J.

California Cooper, was an American playwright and author. She wrote 17 plays and was named Black Playwright of the Year in 1978 for her play Strangers.^[1] Cooper also received an American Book Award in 1989, a James Baldwin Writing Award (1988), and a Literary Lion Award (1988) from the American Library Association.^[2]

Early life

Joan “California” Cooper was born on November 10, 1931 in Berkeley, California to Joseph Cooper and Maxine Rosemary Lincoln Cooper.^[3] She was the youngest of five siblings, having three sisters (one deceased, Shirley May) and one brother.^[4][5] Her father worked as a scrap metal maker and her mother worked as a welder in World War II before owning a beauty salon later on.^[3]  Though Cooper grew up in California, she also frequently spent t