Biography
Peter S. Cook is Associate Professor in the Department of ASL-English Interpretation and an internationally known Deaf performing artist whose work incorporates American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement.
Cook worked at Columbia from 1993-1998 and began working again in the Department of ASL-English Interpretation full time in 2006. Cook has an MA in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University (2011), and a BFA in Graphic Design from Rochester Institute of Technology (1986).
Since 1986, Cook has traveled extensively both nationally and internationally with Kenny Lerner to promote the Flying Words Project and ASL literature. He has appeared in Live from Off Center’s “Words on Mouth” and “United States of Poetry” (PBS), both of which were produced by Emmy-award winner Bob Holman. Cook launched a video production in 1998 called PC Production, which is now based in Chicago.
Cook has been featured nationally in numerous festivals, including the Jonesboro National Storytelling Festival; Oklahoma City Winter Tales; Illinois Storytelling Festival; Indiana Hoosier Storytelling Festival; Eugene, Oregon Multi-Cultural Festival; The Deaf Way II; and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In 2003, he was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival. Internationally, Cook has worked with Deaf storytellers/poets in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Japan.
Instructional Areas
ASL Literature
Creative Practice and Research Interests
ASL Narrative Studies
Degrees
B.F.A., Graphic Design Rochester Institute of Technology 1986
M.A., Storytelling East Tennessee State University 2007