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About
Jack Cooper is a poet and science communicator with six years' experience in biomedical research.
His poems have been discussed on BBC Radio 4, commissioned by the Science Museum, translated into Czech and Romanian, taught in British schools, and performed at the V&A.
He won the Society of Authors' Eric Gregory Award for 'Break the Nose of Every Beautiful Thing', which can be ordered from Doomsday Press and the Poetry Book Society.
Jack is keen to use poetry and prose for science communication. The Poetry Society's educational resource 'We Are Cellular' uses his poetry to explore cell biology and metaphor.
Jack has developed and delivered workshops and other poetic projects for the Science Museum, Imperial College London, BBC, V&A, Czech Centre London, and Oxford City Council, amongst others.
He is always open for creative collaborations, having previously worked with classical musicians, graphic designers, and other poets.
Jack lives in London.
Photo credit: Olivia Da Costa
Break the Nose
of Every Beautiful Thing
Curiosity drives Jack Cooper’s debut pamphlet. Drawing from his experience in biomedical research, Cooper finds severe beauty at a cellular level. A maggot is ‘a white wave without water’; mould in a student flat is ‘a firework display exploding in slow motion’. The joy of discovery is a common thread that ties queer desire and dissection to Gilgamesh and genetically-engineered squids. Just as an egg becomes a fly and a boy becomes a man, we witness a metamorphosis of the scientific to the abstract. In these poems, a body is never finished.
Break the Nose of Every Beautiful Thing won an Eric Gregory Award in 2022.
Available now from Doomsday Press
"The words are elegant and precise; Break the Nose of Every Beautiful Thing is as joyful in its imagery as it is thought-provoking in its abstractions. Cooper takes us on a voyage of life and love, leaving us contemplating our own journeys of self-discovery."
- Dr Helen Sharman, Britain's first astronaut
"Poetry and Science meet in the practice of close observation... Cooper treats us to thrilling poetry describing scientific subjects and procedures, and then turns his sharp eye and enchanting language to romantic, sexual, and familial relationships. Love, art, life: there is much waiting to be discovered in this illuminating work"
- The Poetry Book Society Bulletin
"The precision and perseverance of Cooper's descriptive eye are as particular as a microscope and further enriched with charges of emotion that strike at unexpected moments. The author's dissecting glare creates a condition of uncertainty; with each poem acting as a linguistic autopsy."
- Lily McDermott for The Poetry Review
"These are poems of learning, about both the self and the world around us, aglow with the bioluminescence of curiosity. Cooper's words have 'bloomed sleek and excessive / as an orchid's corolla'' on the page and in my mind, a heady scent that will tint the way I look at even the most everyday things - from Blu Tack to hoverflies - for a long time to come."
- Ellora Sutton, author of Antonyms for Burial
"It can be said that the power of poetry can be in its clashing of two unlike things and finding ways to connect the likenesses between them. In the case of Jack Cooper's Break the Nose of Every Beautiful Thing, this idea of poetry is constantly put to the test."
- Roger Robinson, author of A Portable Paradise
Selected Poems
Publications
Break the Nose of Every Beautiful Thing (Doomsday Press)
Jack's individual poems have been featured by the following platforms, magazines, and anthologies.
Platforms:
BBC Radio 4 (The Language Exchange), BBC Hereford & Worcester,
BBC CWR, Young Poets Network, Hour of Writes, Poetry Pea podcast
Magazines:
Magma, Ambit, Poetry News, Southword, revue Prostor, fourteen poems, Propel, Popshot, Under the Radar, Acumen, Poetry Birmingham, Stand, Interpreter's House, The Adriatic, The Oxford Magazine, Queer Grief Zine, Bright Brains, Right Hand Pointing, Salon of the Refused, Chatterbox, Unhomely, Hugh’s News, Poetry Kit, Fragmented Voices, HCE Magazine, époque press e-zine, bluebee magazine, Seen Zine #2, The ISIS, ASH, Cobalt, Kamena, Phenotype, The Swan, Cherwell, The Oxford Student, Seven Voices, notes, Blueprint zine, Two Play zine, Pharos, Are You Lost Yet
Anthologies:
HE SHE THEY US: Queer Poems, Re·creation, Hippocrates Awards 2021 Anthology, Doth Drip Make the Man, Ode to Code: Bletchley Park, Places of Poetry: Mapping the Nation in Verse, The Verve Anthology of Diversity Poems, Spirit of Fire and Dust, Alternative Truths, Life Plus 2 Metres, Forward Poetry: Mind Matters 2, Forward Poetry: Darkness Falls, Marsden the Poetry Village Anthology 2019, Human Rights: Poems from the Positive Images Peace Festival Poetry Competition 2019, Geopoetry 2020, ECHT anthology
Competitions
Winner, Eric Gregory Award 2022
Shortlisted, Bridport Poetry Prize 2023
Nominee, SFPA Rhysling Award 2024
Winner, The Poetry Society Members' Poems competition (Spring 2024)
Finalist, Gregory O'Donoghue Competition 2023
Official Selection, Ó Bhéal Poetry Film Competition 2022
Longlisted, National Poetry Competition 2017
Inaugural winner, Middleton-Miller Award for most Promising Young Writer.
1st Place, Shout Out for the Covered Market competition (18-24 category).
1st Place, Young Poets Network White Space Challenge.
Joint 2nd Place, Hippocrates Prize 2021 Open Category.
2nd Place, Young Poets Network 10th Anniversary Challenge.
3rd Place, Pre-Raphaelite Society Competition 2020/21.
3rd Place, streetcake experimental poetry prize 2020 (18-23 category).
Commended, Verve Poetry Festival Competition 2019.
Projects
Proud to have worked with
Past projects
London Arts-Based Research Centre
Keynote lecture
Jack gave an hour long keynote talk at the 'Science and Sensibility' conference, which explored the intersections between science and the arts. His talk was titled 'Curiosity is a dividing cell: The reciprocal use of poetry and science in public engagement'
Science communications
The Zero Pressure podcast is a relaxing conversation with those on the cutting edge of science and technology, hosted by Dr Helen Sharman, Britain's first astronaut.
Jack was Imperial College London's lead on the podcast for seasons one and two, and season three pre-production:
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Proposing episode topics and guests
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Co-writing scripts (lead or support depending on topic)
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Live events founder and lead
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Promotion co-lead
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Booking guests co-lead
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Studio recording lead
Episodes and events that Jack had creative control over include:
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Turning the Tide - Seabeds and the Future of Security (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
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Endurance: How Can We Protect the Polar Regions? (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
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20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Revealing Earth's Final Frontier - live at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (YouTube)
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Protecting our poles: The fight to preserve Antarctica and the Arctic - live at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (YouTube)
Other projects include:
Uni-verses Space Poetry Workshops
Jack conceptualised and organised 12 hours of poetry workshops for the Great Exhibition Road Festival, creating all resources and delivering them alongside volunteer scientists and poets.
In total, around 700 poems were written by attendees.
Jack wrote two poems that engaged with the life and work of
Czech poet and immunologist Miroslav Holub, culminating in four performances at the Science Museum Late and a preceding panel talk. Jack accompanied his and Miroslav's poems with
explanations of their scientific context.
Jack is a member of the Science Actually podcast team for
season three and is in the process of producing his own episode
on a cutting-edge scientific subject.
ScienceWrite
The ScienceWrite programme, supported by The Royal Society, aims to help early-stage science writers from minoritised backgrounds advance their professional development. Jack is a member of the 2024 cohort.
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Print - Selected Articles:
Educational resource produced for the Poetry Society
Science Museum Group, Research & Public History Annual Review
Making space for poetry in science engagement
SWIPE SciComm
The festival merging science and art - and liberating them both
Jack was interviewed for this I, Science article
Nuclear solutions to a nucleic problem
Bang!
Colour perception: Do you see the same shade of red as I do?
Bang!
Bang! talks to... Dr Gavin Schmidt
Bang!
Bright Brains, the British Neuroscience Association newsletter
Print - Editorial:
Phenotype (Editor-in-Chief)
Phenotype (Editor-in-Chief)
Bang! (Editor-in-Chief)
Upcoming
Now
Jack's poem Fractal is a winner of The Poetry Society Members' Poems competition (Spring 2024), available to read in
Poetry News and online.
Jack's poem Deadweight is nominated for the SFPA's Rhysling Award. Winners to be announced in due course.
A number of Jack's poems are in the process of being translated
into Romanian by Iustin Butnariuc and Czech by Jane Scalabroni.
June 15th and 16th, 12:00-18:00
Jack will be returning to the Great Exhibition Road Festival
to run a weekend of science poetry workshops, themed
on the human body and cellular science.
He will be joined by a host of other poets and
Imperial College London scientists.
July
Jack's poem 'An uncertain future', Finalist of the
Gregory O'Donoghue Competition 2023, will be published
in Southword 46.
Jack will be part of revue Prostor's launch in Prague,
a publication for which Jane Scalabroni has translated
six of Jack's poems into Czech.
Čítárna in Kampus Hybernská, Prague, Czech Republic.
June 15th and 16th, 15:25-15:55
Jack will perform a set of cell biology themed poetry
for the Great Exhibition Road Festival's Science Cabaret,
alongside a research scientist.
Dangoor Plaza, Imperial College London,
Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AZ
Two of Jack's poems will feature in the Macmillan
poetry anthology 'HE, SHE, THEY, US'.
The anthology will be available for purchase across
the UK and Commonwealth.
Contact
We don’t have any products to show here right now.
Jack is particularly interested in hearing from other artists who want to collaborate.