City Lit catches up with Dee Cooper, one of the winners of this year's Malorie Blackman Scholarship for 'Unheard Voices'. We find out more about her writing experiences, winning the scholarship and her ambitions.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and your writing background?
A: Only my mum still calls me Adele, to everyone else I am Dee. My name got shortened some time ago, when I helped in a local school, teaching young Traveller children to read, a young man said, I’m going to call you Aunt Dee. Dee because it was easier for him and Aunt out of respect for me as his elder. I used to take a limited number of books that I borrowed from the Traveller Education dept in Merton, about Romany and Traveller communities, as there were none in the school library and I believe that young people need to be able to enjoy reading something relatable.
At the time, there weren't many books that represented our communities, so I would also make up little stories for the children I was teaching as well as my own two children. I come from a longline of strong Romany women, who are natural born storytellers, but they have never written anything down. So, I began to write my own stories. When I was younger, I wrote a lot of fantasy stories, about magical lands, in peaceful surroundings always outdoors and filled with nature. When I had children and they went to school, I started writing little stories and poems for them about our heritage and I would read them at bedtime, just as my mother had done for me, only she used to recall hers from memory. There is a beauty in memoir and one that matters so very much when you come from a community that is so often miss represented, or unseen in the mainstream.
Q: What role does writing play in your life, and why is it important to you?
I have spent the last 26 years, dedicating my time as an advocate/activist for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Communities. Both my children were bullied at school because of their culture, something that happens far too often and sadly still does. I have written many pieces over the years to help raise awareness, to dispel myths that seem to still surround our communities. There are so many young people from GRT communities, getting their degrees and going on to do great work, in film, media, health and advocate work because they are proud of where they come from and want to tell the world! My own daughter is a Romany Artist, and my son is doing his 3rd degree in medicine. None of which has been without its challenges or prejudice’s. These young people have inspired me, to not just write for me and my family but to shout out our stories and heritage loud and clear. It fills me with joy, when I get to not only share my work with my community who will relate to it, but also help educated those about our culture who are not from our communities. So, I started City lit to get discipline with my writing. It was during the pandemic that I first took an online course, I was so nervous when I started, I unlike many that attended, didn’t come from a great educational background. I was born with a long-term genetic illness, and I am also dyslexic, and no one in any of my classes was from the Romany community, just like when I was at school. So, when I started, I didn’t write anything about my community for the first couple of weeks, but as my confidence grew, I started to write what was inside me. One of my first classes, with Julie Garton was Memoir.
She is a fantastic tutor and so very down to earth, I told her that my spelling and punctuation wasn’t that great, and she said, “Dee, just write it all down and worry about that later” So that's what I did. Storytelling came natural to me verbally, but writing it down correctly was another story entirely (no pun intended) I then started writing about my life, my heritage and I enjoyed that so much more and it seemed other people enjoyed it to, I took them into a world, that was new to them, and it seemed to be something they were really interested in. Julie got me hooked on memoir and City Lit gave me the opportunity to learn in a safe space, in a relaxed environment and because it was online, I could attend.
Q: Who are your favourite writers and what stories have inspired you?
A: Malorie Blackman is such an inspiration, she knew it wasn’t right when she was growing up that there was nothing relatable to her and despite working in another field, deep down her passion was to write, not just for herself but for others to enjoy and feel that they too were represented. She wanted to see that change! And she made that happen. She isn’t just inspirational, but very clever too, in the way she has written noughts and crosses, turning things on their head, really packs a punch. Maya Angelou has also written so many pieces that have left an impact.
There are also a few writers in my community that are not mainstream but write some very inspirational pieces. I also enjoy the work of Alan bennet and Ken Loach. I like things that come straight from the heart, they are even more powerful and leave lasting impressions.
Q: What made you decide to study at City Lit?
A: I started City Lit during the pandemic, I was still in my lockdown, even after others had gained some freedom again, living with a long-term illness I had to keep myself and my family safe as my children have the same condition. Covid, did one good thing for me, it gave me access to things online that were never there before. My family said go for it, when I came across a memoir course with City Lit and my tutor Julie Garton, was all the encouragement I needed to stay.
I have taken so many courses now, autobiography, memoir, screenwriting, film, to name a few and I always look forward to the next class. The classes give me focus and direction! And I love doing homework, something I hated at school.
Q: What made you decide to apply for the Malorie Blackman scholarship?
A: Two of the girls I had met at college, Lee, and Katie, both beautiful people and great writers, said I should submit my work for the Malorie Blackman scholarship, I thought I wouldn’t get it in by the deadline, but my family said you can do this. So, I set about writing and rewriting over a week to get it in on time.
Q: What do you hope to achieve through the scholarship scheme?
A: I just want to keep learning the craft I love so much, I want to tell my stories in the best way I can, and City Lit is a place I feel safe to explore what else I have inside me to give. I feel so lucky and so grateful to have had Malorie read my work and chose my piece for the scholarship, I just want to thank her so much. I know City Lit will help me develop my work further and I can’t wait to get started.
Discover City Lit Creative Writing Scholarship programme
The awards seek to support and encourage the creative and professional development of ‘unheard voices' at City Lit.
Learn more: Malorie Blackman Scholarships
Learn creative writing at City Lit
Short & Long Courses | Daytime | Evenings | Weekdays | Weekends
Be inspired to write and learn how to get published at the college where Malorie Blackman, Anna Burns, and other celebrated authors studied.
