Meet Vera Jane Cook

Welcome to Meet the Author Monday where it is all about the author!

Where did you grow up/live now? 

I grew up in New York City and still live here. I often fantasize that I live somewhere else, in a small town where life is less hectic but so far I'm still here.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

I wanted to be an actress as a young girl and I was an actress for many years. I am much more fitted for writing than I am for acting. I like the hours better and I don't have to travel. Also less room for stage fright.

What is your education/career background?

I have a masters degree in educational theatre which makes no sense at all, it should have been in creative writing. I don't think I really made good choices until I was much older.

Do you have kids and/or pets? 

Oh yes, I have lots of pets, three little dogs and two sweet cats. One is a Chihuahua named Peanut, the other is a Basenji mix named Roxie and a Dachshund named Carly. The cats are Sweetie Pie and Sassy, half Siamese, all were adopted.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

I have been writing all my life but not novels, that came to me late, nearly fifty.

Who are some of your favorite authors? 

Oh, let's see, there is Anita Shreve, Wally Lamb, Jodi Picoult, Nelson DeMille, Anne Rice, Colette, Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Sam Shepherd, Dean Koonz, the guy who wrote Racing in The Rain, and oh, so many others......

Have you won any awards or honors (not just for writing)? 

I have just won awards for writing, they've been a finalist award for fiction for ForeWord Book of the Year 2012 for my novel The Story of Sassy Sweetwater. Also the book won Honerable Mention this year for the Eric Hoffer Award for ebook fiction. My novel Dancing Backward in Paradise also won the Eric Hoffer Award as well as an Indie Excellence Award for notable new fiction in 2007.

Buy The Story of Sassy Sweetwater at Amazon

About the Author

Jane, as she is known to family and friends, was born in New York City and grew up amid the eccentricity of her southern and glamorous mother on the Upper West and Upper East Side of Manhattan. An only child, Jane turned to reading novels at an early age and was deeply influenced by an eclectic group of authors. Some of her favorite authors today are Nelson DeMille, Wally Lamb, Anne Rice, Sue Monk Kidd, Anita Shreve, Jodi Picoult, Alice Walker and Anne Rivers Siddons. Her favorite novels are too long to list but include The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Cheri and The Last of Cheri, The Picture of Dorian Grey, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Kite Runner, Dogs of Babel, The Bluest Eye, The Color Purple, Body Surfing, Lolita, The Brothers Karamazov, She's Come Undone, Tale of Two Cities, etc., etc., etc.,
Jane worked in the professional theatre for over a decade, falling further in love with the plays of Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neil, Lillian Hellmann, and Sam Shepherd. She has appeared in television, regional theatre, film and off Broadway. Some of her credits have included both classic and original plays at Playwrights Horizons, WPA Theatre, Kennedy Center, Theatre for The New City, Bucks County Playhouse and many others.
After ten years in the theatre, Jane developed a passion for art history, film theory and philosophy. To nurture her many interests, she enrolled at Hunter College through the CUNY BA/BS program from the City University of New York.

website

Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the links above. The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed by contributing authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Girl Who Reads.