Dennis Cooper was born on January 10, 1953 in Pasadena, California. His literary aspirations were explored early on and often took the form of imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, De Sade, and Baudelaire. He wrote poetry and stories in his early teens that explored scandalous and often extreme subjects. As a teenager, Cooper was an "outsider" and the leader of a group of poets, punks, stoners and writers. After high school he attended Pasadena City College and later Pitzer College where he encountered a poetry teacher who was to inspire him to pursue his writing outside of institutions of higher learning.

In 1976 Cooper went to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene transforming the visual/verbal aesthetic of punk into its written counterpart--see, for example, Closer. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press which featured the work of, among others, Brad Gooch, Amy Gerstler, Elaine Equi, Tim Dlugos, and Eileen Myles.

In 1979, Cooper became the director of programming at an alternative poetry space, Beyond Baroque, in Venice, California. During his tenure such artists as Tim Miller, Eric Bogosian and Jessica Hagedorn gave performances. He also curated shows that included works by Sheree Levin and Bob Flanagan, Peter Schjeldahl, Kenward Elmslie, Gerard Malanga, and Jack Skelley. In 1984, Cooper moved to New York City. In 1987 he met his Dutch boyfriend whom he soon followed back to Amsterdam. While exiled in Amsterdam he finished writing Closer which took as inspiration a postcard that featured an image of Mickey Mouse carved onto the back of a young boy. Cooper later won the Ferro-Grumley for gay literature for Closer.

While in Amsterdam he also wrote articles for different American magazines including the Village Voice. He soon returned to New York and began writing articles for Artforum and began working on his next novel, Frisk. In the next few years Cooper works on several different art and performance projects including co-curating an exhibit at LACE with Richard Hawkins entitled AGAINST NATURE: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men.

Presently, Cooper lives in Los Angeles. He has, after his final return to Los Angeles from New York, collaborated with a number of artists, including composer John Zorn, painter Lari Pittman, sculptors Jason Meadows and Nayland Blake, and others. In the Spring of 2000 he published the final novel, Period, of the series that began with Closer, followed by Frisk, Try, and Guide.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Terror of Earrings. Arcadia, CA: Kinks Press, 1973.

Little Caesar. Ed. Dennis Cooper. Los Angeles: Little Caesar Press, 1976-1981.

Tiger Beat. Los Angeles: Little Caesar Press, 1978.

Antoine Monnier. Los Angeles: Anon Press, 1978.

Idols. New York: The Sea Horse Press, 1979.

Coming Attractions: An Anthology of American Poets in Their Twenties. Ed. Dennis Cooper with assistance by Tim Dlugos. Los Angeles: Little Caesar Press, 1980.

The Missing Men. Santa Barbara: Am Here Books/Immediate Editions, 1981.

The Tenderness of Wolves.Trumansburg, New York: Crossing Press, 1982.

My Mark. Los Angeles: Sherwood Press, 1982.

Safe. New York: Sea Horse Press, 1984.

Them. (play) Produced in New York, 1985.

He Cried. San Francisco: Black Star Series, 1985.

Against Nature: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men. Curators Dennis Cooper and Richard Hawkins. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, 1988.

Closer. New York: Grove Press, 1989.

Idols. Revised Edition. New York: Amethyst Press, 1989.

Knife/Tape/Rope (play). produced in New York City, 1989.

The Undead (play). produced in Los Angeles at Mark Taper Forum, 1989.

Frisk. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.

Lust.Intro. Dennis Cooper. Los Angeles: The Advocate Liberations Publications, 1991.

Discontents: New Queer Writers. Ed. Dennis Cooper. New York: Amethyst Press, 1992.

Wrong: Stories. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1992.

Jerk. San Francisco: Artspace Books, 1993.

Try. New York: Grove, 1994.

Dear Dennis, Love Lari. Collaboration with Lari Pittman and Jonathan Hammer. San Francisco: Hammer Editions, 1995.

The Dream Police: Selected Poems, 1969-1993. New York: Grove Press, 1995. Horror Hospital Unplugged. New York: Juno Books, 1997.

Guide. New York: Grove Press, 1997.

Weird Little Boy. Collaboration with John Zorn, Nayland Blake and Casey McKinney. Tokyo and New York: Avant Records, 1998.

Raymond Pettibon. Intro. Dennis Cooper. Switzerland: Kunsthalle Bern/D.A.P., 1998.

Period. New York: Grove Press, 2000.

Raymond Pettibon. Intro. Dennis Cooper. New York: Phaidon, 2001.

Thom Friedman. Essay. Dennis Cooper. London: Phaidon, 2001.

My Loose Thread. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2002.