Check Out Donna Cooner’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Cooner.

Hi Donna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a professor of education at Colorado State University and an author of young adult novels. My love of children’s literature developed along with my teaching career and I see them as delightfully informing each other.

I began writing picture books when I was teaching kindergarten and gradually moved on to writing young adult books as my career progressed to teaching older and older students.

Even though I now teach mostly graduate students who want to become school principals, I still love visiting schools to talk to younger students about telling their own stories through creative writing.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
2020 was a horrible year for so many people. For me, it was even worse (If that could be possible) because I was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. Multiple rounds of chemo and surgery left me severely immunocompromised in a world where everyone was trying desperately to stay alive.

All my mental and physical energy went to fighting my health battle and thinking creatively was a struggle. I was lucky enough to reach remission in 2021 and then began to renew my passion for travel.

With my doctors’ permission I began to explore the world again and slowly–ever so slowly–start to think of new stories to write. My most recent trip to Cambodia and Vietnam was risky in so many ways for me, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My writing career has spanned just as many years as my teaching career, and I am so fortunate for the opportunities both brought me. I am the author of over twenty picture books and have also written children’s television shows for PBS. My debut novel, SKINNY, was named an ALA’s Best Young Adult Fiction Award, BEA’s Young Adult Buzz Book, and Bankstreet College’s Best Children’s Book of the Year.

My book, CAN’T LOOK AWAY, was a Teen Choice Nominee and an ALA Top Pick for Reluctant Readers. SKINNY, SCREENSHOT and FAKE are all Colorado Book Award finalists. My books have been translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Basque, Russian, French, Spanish, and Finnish. Many of my young adult novels center around teenage struggles with online bullying and I was honored recently to be invited to Le Sorbonne in Paris to speak to other academics about the subject.

What makes you happy?
Throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Eating street food in Vietnam. Watching the sunrise over the temple of Angkor Wat.

Everyone says it, but it’s so true. Life is short. There’s a world of wonderful things and people out there. Maybe in your neighborhood. Maybe halfway around the world. Don’t take your days for granted. Live.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.donnacooner.com
• Instagram: @dcooner
• Facebook: donnacoonerbooks