Joan Drescher CooperJoan Drescher Cooper is a teacher and writer living on Maryland's Eastern Shore. A twenty-eight-year veteran of Maryland public schools, she enjoys the drama and energy of her students. Long-time advisor for Poetry Out Loud, she regularly attends thebiennial Dodge Poetry Festival. She was awarded the 2018 Light of Literacy Award for teaching by the Wicomico County Library Association for conducting an afterschool writing program, bringing live Shakespeare plays to students, and publishing a school creative writing magazine. She teaches English Language Arts Grade 6-12 and coordinates the Career Research and Development I course with Work-based Learning I for Wicomico Evening High and Secondary Summer School. She distills the joy that living on the Eastern Shore delivers in Birds Like Me, a collection of intuitive moments stolen from dog walks, teaching, and dreaming. Moving to the Eastern Shore from Baltimore in 2006 spurred poetry, short stories, and fifteen novels. Short pieces have been published in online magazines such as Pandemonium Press' Doorknobs & BodyPaint. From 2014-2016, Joan published a novel series set on a West Virginia mountain, Finding Home on Lilac Hill, a short story collection, Return to Lilac Hill, and the novel, Lilac Hill Folly. Joan is co-founder and treasurer for the Berlin Chapter of the Maryland Writer's Association, as well as member of the Eastern Shore Writer's Association. She is one of the Rabbit Gnaw Writers-a collaborative writing critique group sponsored by the Delmarva Review. Joan and her husband Tim have three children and five grandchildren. Her dog Hopper walks her daily. Read More Read Less