CJ Cook(I)
- Writer
C.J. Cook is an author and historian who has a long interest in the history of the South Pacific. His first book, Tyree, Artist of the South Pacific (2017), was an outstanding success winning two Gold Awards for Best Cover and Best Biography from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) in April 2018. His second book was published in May 2021 entitled Leeteg, Babes, Bars, Beaches and Black Velvet Art
He has written many articles, including publishing biographical sketches on historical figures. Cook is a lifelong manuscript collector interested in art, poetry, and the South Pacific. He is a board member of a prominent manuscript association dedicated to preserving manuscripts, historical documents, and the written word.
He is also a collector of South Pacific art and artists, including Ralph Burke Tyree, Edgar Leeteg, Edithe Beutler, Madge Tennent, Cece Rodriguez, Robert Lee Eskridge, and William Bloom. Some of the paintings and photographs in his books are from his collection.
He has and continues to explore the South Pacific, including Guam, Pohnpei, Taiwan, Truk, Palau, Bali, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, its Great Barrier Reef, Tahiti, and its surrounding islands, and the Hawaiian Islands. The last two island paradises he visits multiple times a year.