Dennis Cooley

Dennis Cooley (born 1944) is a Canadian writer of poetry and criticism, a retired university professor, and a vital figure in the evolution of the prairie long poem. He was raised on a farm near the small city of Estevan, Saskatchewan in Canada, and currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Cooley's self-proclaimed influences in writing are William Carlos Williams, H.D., Robert Duncan, Charles Olson, E.E. Cummings, Eli Mandel, Andrew Suknaski, Daphne Marlatt, bpNichol, Michael Ondaatje, and Robert Kroetsch.<ref>By Word of Mouth. The Poetry of Dennis Cooley bookworkpjw.ca Template:Webarchive</ref>

Early life

As a student, Cooley held a variety of different labouring jobs during the summers.<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite web</ref> First attending secondary schooling at the University of Saskatchewan, Cooley obtained with added Distinction his Bachelor of Education Degree in 1966, a High Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1967<ref name="auto1"/> and afterwards upgraded to his Masters of Arts Degree on Stephen Crane's imagery and symbolism in 1968.<ref name="auto6">Template:Cite web</ref>

Cooley later moved to New York state to attend the University of Rochester. It was there that Cooley prepared the research for his doctorate on the San Francisco-born American poet, Robert Duncan. He received the Ph. D in 1971.<ref name="auto2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

From 1972 to 1973, Cooley was employed within the Blakeney Government in Saskatchewan as an executive assistant.<ref name="auto5">Template:Cite web</ref> Apart from this, most of Cooley's working life has been teaching English.

He has worked at St. John's College since 1976 as the Organizer of Literary Conferences within the University of Manitoba<ref name="auto3">Template:Cite web</ref> and taught Early Modern and Contemporary poetry, specializing in Robert Duncan, Dorothy Livesay, Margaret Atwood, Robert Kroetsch, Eli Mandel, Prairie Literature, the Long poem in the Twentieth Century, Canadian Writers in Self-construction, Fundamentals of Literary Theory, American Literature, Creative Writing, Poetry & Media 1994–1995, Narratology & Postcolonialism.<ref name="auto6"/> He retired from in 2011.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref>

He has since helped start create the Manitoba Writers’ Guild, and is currently President.<ref name="auto2"/> The Guild, founded in 1981 in Aubigny, Manitoba as a support group for Manitoba writers, offers workshops, conducts local reading groups and a peer support network for enhancing and encouraging other writers of all skill levels.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cooley is also an editor, and from 1975 to 1976 was the Assistant Editor on the Journal of Canadian Fiction, the Poetry Editor of Arts Manitoba from 1978 to 1979 and 1982–1983, the Contributing Editor to Border Crossings from 1989 to 1993, as well as the Editor at the Pachyderm Press from 1993 onward. He also served as the Workshop Leader at the Sage Hill Writing Experience in 1992, 1998, 1999, and 2000.<ref name="auto6"/>

Cooley is a founding editor of the Turnstone Press in Winnipeg, Manitoba,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which was created in 1976 in a local Winnipeg pub. Turnstone promotes authors who are either landed immigrants or Canadian citizens, with fifty percent featuring local Manitoba content and Manitoban writers.<ref name="auto4">Template:Cite web</ref>

Writing

Cooley specializes in different genres of poetry; such as literary travel, literary criticism, and the long poem.<ref name="auto5"/> He shows special interest in Canadian Literature, American Writing, modern and postmodern writing, the languages of orality and print, poetry and politics, and literary theory.<ref name="auto2"/> To date, Cooley has published a dozen volumes of poetry, and over a hundred various articles, columns, reviews, and interviews.<ref name="auto3"/>

Cooley has travelled abroad to share his talent by giving workshops, lectures and readings to places such as Ukraine and Russia (Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Moscow) in May 1991, to the World Poetry Conference in Portugal in May 1995 and again in May 2001, Berlin in August 2002, Poland in April 1999, and Spain in December 1998.<ref name="auto6"/> To benefit those who don't read his native language of English, some of his work has been translated into Portuguese, German, Chinese and Ukrainian.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cooley gave his time to the University of Augsburg in the summer of 1996 by being the Canadian Studies guest professor.<ref name="auto4"/>

Cooley is currently keeping busy by working on personal travel journals, poetry books, and a plethora of essays.<ref name="auto4"/>

Recognition

Cooley is the recipient of twelve Manitoba Book Awards, and the Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref name="auto"/> He has also won or been nominated for the following:

• (1967-1968) University of Saskatchewan Teaching Fellowship.
• (1968-1971) Canada Council award for graduate study.
• (1968-1971) University of Rochester Tuition Scholarships.
• (1975) University of Manitoba Research Grant to work on the Duncan papers in the Bancroft Library at Berkeley.
• (1979) Olive Beatrice Stanton award for excellence in teaching.
• (1981-1982) SSHRC Leave Fellowship.
• (1987) Manitoba Arts Council Award to write a screen play based on Bloody Jack.
• (1987) University of Manitoba outreach award.
• (1988) Perishable Light nominated for McNally Robinson Book Award.
• (1989) Western Magazine Award for arts commentary.
• (1990) Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies, University of Trier, West Germany— May–July.
• (1990) Featured reader at Moorhead State University in the Thomas McGrath reading series.
• (May 5, 1995) City of Estevan official Dennis Cooley day.
• (1996) Guest Professor in Canadian Studies at Universität Augsburg.
• (2000) Irene nominated for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award.
• (2000) Named "Favourite Poet" in Write: Readers' Choice poll.
• (2001) Irene nominated for McNaly Robinson book of the Year Award.<ref name="auto6"/>
• (2012) Departmental Distinguished Lecturer of the Year Award from the University of Windsor, Ontario for his Lecture A Lover's Question: Staging Romance in Kroetsch's The Sad Phoenician.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

• Cooley, D. (1980) Leaving. Lyrical poems about friends and family, Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN<ref name="auto5"/>
• Cooley, D. (1983) Fielding. Poem about Cooley's father, including his death. Thistledown Press. Template:ISBN.
• Cooley, D. (1984) Bloody Jack. Poem that plays off the narrative of Jack Krafchenko, a famous outlaw from early twentieth-century Manitoba. Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN; 1984
• Cooley, D. (1987) Soul Searching. Poems on the mind/body binary. Red Deer College Press. Template:ISBN; 1987.
• Cooley, D. (1987) The Vernacular Muse. Critical essays on the eye and the ear in Canadian literature. Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN; 1987.
• Cooley, D. (1988) Dedications. Poems dedicated to friends and other writers. Thistledown Press.
• Cooley, D. (1988) Perishable Light. Poems from memory, dream, fantasy, set in the Prairies. Coteau Books. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (1992) Eli Mandel and His Works. ECW Press.
• Cooley, D. (1992) This Only Home. Poems on astronauts, astronomers and mariners. Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (1992) Burglar of Blood. Dracula poems. Pachyderm Press.
• Cooley, D. (1996) Sunfall. Selected and new poems. House of Anansi Press.
• Cooley, D. (2000) Irene Poetry about the death of Cooley's mother. Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (2002) Bloody Jack. 2nd. ed. University of Alberta. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (2003) Seeing Red Dracula Poems. Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (2004) Country Music New Poems. Kalamalka. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (2006) The Bentleys Poems of a prairie couple. University of Alberta. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (2007) By Word of Mouth Canadian identity poems. Wilfrid Laurier. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. (2008) Correction Line Reconstructing Memory poems. Thistledown Press. Template:ISBN
• Cooley, D. The Stones Prairie Relation poems. Turnstone Press. Template:ISBN

Books edited

• Cooley, D (Ed.) (1981) In the Name of Narid: New Poems. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill.
• Cooley, D (Ed.) (1981) Draft: An Anthology of Prairie Poetry. Toronto, ON: Turnstone Press.
• Cooley, D (Ed.) (1980) Replacing. Toronto, ON: ECW.
• Cooley, D (Ed.) (1992) Inscriptions: Prairie Poetry. Winnipeg, MB: Turnstone Press.<ref name="auto6"/>