User:Cindamuse/Helene Cooper

Helene Cooper (born April 22, 1966) is a Liberian-born American author, editor, journalist, and diplomatic correspondent. She has served as a White House correspondent for The New York Times since 2004, at which time, she was also honored as a Public Policy Scholar with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Prior to serving as White House correspondent, she was the diplomatic correspondent to Washington, D.C. In 2011, the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. honored her with the Urbino Press Award for Foreign Reporting. , she serves as a member of the New York Times editorial board. Throughout her career, she has reported from 64 countries, including eastern and western Europe, Asia, North and South America, and back to her homeland in western Africa.

In 2008, Cooper published her memoirs, entitled The House at Sugar Beach, which presented detailed background of Cooper's life at the family's Sugar Beach plantation in Liberia, south of Monrovia. As descendants of prominent 1820 colonial Liberian settlers, the family remained members of the Americo-Liberian ruling class of socially and politically elite society for over 130 years. Following the Liberian coup of 1980, the family experienced violence, death, and eventual exile from the country. The book received positive reviews and critical acclaim. In 2008, it was honored as a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist for autobiographies. On September 21, 2008, the book was recorded on the New York Times Best Seller list, where it remained for four weeks.

Personal background
Helene Cooper was born on April 22, 1966 in Monrovia, Liberia. She is the daughter of John Lewis and Calista (née Dennis) Cooper, Jr. She is the eldest of two daughters born to John and Calista, who also served as parents to local Bassa foster child, Eunice Patrice Bull, who became a part of the Cooper family in 1974, at age eight. Calista also raised her brother Henry's daughter, Vicky, as her own. Cooper additionally had three half-siblings through her father's first marriage to Toulia Dennis, namely half-sisters Janice and Ora and half-brother John Lewis Cooper III.

Her ancestors include two early settlers of Liberia, Elijah Johnson and Randolph Cooper. per's life at the family's Sugar Beach plantation in Liberia, south of Monrovia. As descendants of prominent 1820 colonial Liberian settlers, the family remained members of the socially and politically elite Americo-Liberian ruling class for over 130 years. The family was directly affected by the Liberian coup of 1980.

Liberian coup of 1980
During the coup, her mother was gang raped, while the murder and execution of Liberian cabinet members was publicly televised, including Cooper's uncle, Cecil Dennis, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Exile in the US
Cooper earned a Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She became a naturalized US citizen in 1997.

Professional background
At The Wall Street Journal, Cooper wrote about trade, politics, race and foreign policy at the Washington and Atlanta bureaus from 1992 to 1997.

The Wall Street Journal 1999-2004 as well as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

From 1997 to 1999, she reported on the European Monetary Union from the London bureau. From 1999 to 2002, she was a reporter focusing on international economics; then assistant Washington bureau chief from 2002 to 2004. Before that, she was the paper's diplomatic correspondent in Washington, D.C.. She joined the Times in 2004 as assistant editorial page editor.

White House correspondent for the New York Times.

In 2008, she published a memoir titled The House at Sugar Beach. The memoir largely concerns the Liberian coup of 1980 and its effect on Cooper's family, socially and politically elite descendants of American freed slaves who colonized the country in the 19th century. The book has received positive reviews and received critical acclaim. In 2008, it was a National Books Critics Circle Award finalist in 2008 for autobiography.

She has also appeared on "Meet the Press," "Washington Week," "The Tavis Smiley Show," "The Chris Matthews Show" and "This Week."

Honors and awards

 * 2000: Raymond Clapper Award for Washington Reporting
 * 2001: Sandy Hume Award for Best Reporter under the age of 35
 * 2002: Missouri Lifestyle Award for Feature Writing
 * 2004: National Association of Black Journalists Award for Feature Writing
 * 2004: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Public Policy Scholar
 * 2011: Urbino Press Award for Foreign Reporting

Published works

 * Pearl, Daniel; edited by Helene Cooper. At Home in the World, New York:The Free Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0743243179
 * Cooper, Helene. The House at Sugar Beach, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008, ISBN 978-0743266246