Chris Cooke
Writing runs in the family. My mother had several plays performed in Manchester and Liverpool. She also wrote two poetry collections and had much of her work published in reviews and read on radio. Dad wrote sketches for his group of amateur performers The Five Fingers who toured retirement homes in the Northwest during the 70s.
Aged 14, I wrote my first Sci-fi story as an English project at grammar school. I got the second highest mark!
From age 18, with a few years’ break during a mental health breakdown, I’ve kept a daily journal.
As a French and Russian teacher, I produced a range of course materials and public exam papers.
As a Green Party campaigner and politician, I’m now on my 46th collaboratively-produced ward newsletter.
Ten years ago, I began to experiment with creative writing: starting with satirical limericks and short stories. I then graduated to a whimsical Napoleonic era wargaming rule book and, more recently, two novels: Algorithmic Taxman and Green Necropolis, both set in a near future society with dystopian features.
My novels are largely influenced by my life experience as a teacher and political campaigner. Aside from the obvious existential threat of environmental degradation and the broken public education system, I explore a wide range of themes such as mental health, euthanasia, suicide and the individual versus oppressive regimes.
My current writing project themes a naïve young adult’s ordeal with an unforgiving and dehumanising criminal justice system.
Wirral Writers 