• Age: 15 to 18
• Grade: 10 to 12

P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt">This is Alyssa Cooper’s first collection of poetry. It is a wildly imaginative collection of where the terrain is physically and emotionally charged. Cold Breath of Life is a fresh breath of poetic air, a work of an original, young and otherworldly mind. These poems will step the reader into a different world, a multifaceted vision that resonates like a tuning fork. These poems speak of memories, of dreamlike moments and unbearable burdens where ghosts, creatures and lost souls congregate. These poems celebrate what it means to be alive in such unusual times. This collection will propel you from one poem to another and never leave you feeling disappointed. ?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Alyssa Cooper's profile page

P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.3pt 56.65pt 85.0pt 113.35pt 141.7pt 170.05pt 198.4pt 226.75pt 255.1pt 283.45pt 311.8pt 340.15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">Cold Breath of Life - biographies P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.3pt 56.65pt 85.0pt 113.35pt 141.7pt 170.05pt 198.4pt 226.75pt 255.1pt 283.45pt 311.8pt 340.15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />  P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.3pt 56.65pt 85.0pt 113.35pt 141.7pt 170.05pt 198.4pt 226.75pt 255.1pt 283.45pt 311.8pt 340.15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">shorter P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">Alyssa Cooper was born in Belleville Ontario. An author and poet, her work has been featured in anthologies such as Postscripts to Darkness and literary magazines such as The Emrys Journal. Her first novel, Salvation, was released in 2012. She is currently working as a designer in Belleville, where she lives with her typewriters and personal library. P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">  P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">longer P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none">Alyssa Cooper was born in Belleville Ontario, and has lived in Canada her entire life. A lifelong lover of literature, her first publication came at the age of eighteen, when her poem Just a Nosebleed was included in the anthology Immortal Verses. After spending two years studying Fine Arts at York University, she left Toronto to pursue an education in graphic design in Oshawa Ontario. Through the course of her studies, she developed a deep appreciation for book design and bindery, and received formal training in proofreading and editing. The written word has been her greatest passion since she was a child, when she would carry the novels she could not yet read as part of her wardrobe. She has dedicated her life to developing her voice and pushing the limits of her craft. Her work has been featured in poetry anthologies such as Journey to Crone and  Postscripts to Darkness, and literary magazines such as The Emrys Journal and Revival Literary Journal. Her first novel, Salvation, was released electronically and in print in 2012. She is currently working as a designer in Belleville, where she lives with her typewriters and personal library.

P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">Reviews: P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />  P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">Cold Breath of Life is a fresh breath of poetic air. Cooper is a storey teller at heat, a raconteur with a kaleidoscopic, multifaceted vision of the world and a lyrical voice that resonates like a tuning fork, especially in poems like Canned Goods, and the Crown trilogy. Cooper’s gift to us lies in her ability to mutate the overlooked into high resolution points of interest, while at the same provoking the senses and imparting tidbits of modern wisdom. P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align=right>Peter Jelen,
Editor-in-Chief of BareBack Magazine P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"> 

SPAN lang=EN-US style='FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin'>Cold Breath of Life SPAN lang=EN-US style='FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin'>is the work of an original, young and otherworldly mind. Largely elegiac in tone, Alyssa Cooper’s first and wildly imaginative collection steeps us in a ‘different world’ where the terrain is physically and emotionally charged. At once familiar and strange, these poems speak of memories, of dreamlike moments and unbearable burdens. Ghosts, creatures and lost souls congregate. And there is celebration too, of what it means to be alive in such unusual times. ‘An rud is annamh is íontach’ (what is strange is wonderful).

SPAN lang=EN-US style='FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold'> P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in" align=right>SPAN lang=EN-US style='FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold'>Libby Hart
2003 D. J. O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship winner
and editor of Five Poetry

SPAN lang=EN-US style='FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold'>