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Desiree Cooper

Authors at the Library

Join author Desiree Cooper in a conversation about her anthology, Black Summers: Growing up in the Urban Outdoors.

Authors at the Library with

DESIREE COOPER

Saturday, August 15 | 2 p.m.
Driving Park Branch | 1422 E. Livingston Ave. | Columbus, OH

1:30 p.m. | Seating begins, Book Sale by Prologue Bookshop
2:00 p.m. | Tyiesha Radford Shorts In Conversation with DESIREE COOPER
2:45 p.m. | Audience Q&A 
3:00 p.m. | Book Sale and Signing
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Desiree Cooper is a 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, former attorney, and editor of the groundbreaking 2026 anthology, Black Summers: Growing up in the Urban Outdoors. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Oprah Daily, MSNBC Daily, Flash Fiction America 2023, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, River Teeth, and noted in The Best American Essays 2019. Cooper is the author of the award-winning flash fiction collection, Know the Mother. Her children’s picture book, Nothing Special, is a 2023 Paterson Prizewinner and one of the New York Public Library’s “10 Best Children’s Books of 2022.” A Detroit resident for 30 years, she now lives in coastal Virginia.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A triumphant, cross-generational exploration of Black joy and resilience.

Remember frolicking outside during the long, jubilant days of summer? This vibrant collection invites readers to breathe deeply and return to that "carefree" season. From riding bikes, to boating on the river, attending music festivals, and cooling off in the Swimmobile, Detroiters recount the racial challenges of staking their claim to public spaces. This collection includes emerging and award-winning writers of poetry and creative nonfiction who deftly blend nostalgia with stories of struggle and resilience. Arising from Detroit, an iconic city of the African American experience, comes this groundbreaking exploration of Black joy in the urban outdoors.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Tyiesha Radford Shorts is a writer, humanities professor, and arts and community advocate in the central Ohio community. Currently, Tyiesha serves as Director of The Giovanni Collective, a writing and performing arts organization of Black women writers. Tyiesha is also a founding board member and the Vice Chair of Zora’s House, a sanctuary for women and gender expansive people of color. As an arts and community advocate, Tyiesha teaches free community learning groups for non-traditional students, a practice that offers formal spaces for the curiosity of the classroom outside of the academy. 

A passionate poet and historian, Tyiesha was selected to be the 2025 Artist-in-Residence for The Ohio State University Urban Arts Space. She has been a featured performer for the Columbus Foundation, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and ROOTS: An Open Expression on Identity for the Maroon Arts Group. Tyiesha is a contributing writer for the American Council of Learned Societies 2023 Preparing Community-Engaged Scholars: A Toolkit as well as the collaborative work A Love Letter to This Bridge Called My Back, a collection of literary and visual art works designed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the seminal text This Bridge Called My Back. Her forthcoming article in the Handbook of Critical Arts-Based Research Methods, “Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise: A Return to Black Appalachia through Memory and Poetics,” explores practices of cultural transmission among Black Appalachian communities. She lives in Columbus, Ohio’s historic Bronzeville community with her husband, Marshall, and their dog Ny.

ABOUT THE EVENT

The event is free to the public but due to limited seating registration is requested. 

Books will be sold by Prologue Bookshop.

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