Jeannine Cook

Jeannine Cook, literary artist and founder of Harriett’s Bookshop and Josephine’s Bookshop, has been invited to serve as a special guest lecturer at The American University of Paris from July 1–15, 2025. Building on her participation in the Josephine Baker Symposium, Jeannine will lead sessions in the Creative Nonfiction course and engage with students and alumni on themes explored in her forthcoming book, It’s Me They Follow – a reflection on literature, activism, and the creative resilience of Black women. This opportunity will deepen her art for social change practice by linking her community-rooted work in Philadelphia to a global academic setting, fostering cross-cultural dialogue on legacy, resistance, and storytelling as a vehicle for liberation. 

The WOO Grant will help cover airfare, as well as accommodations and ground transportation costs. 

Jeannine is a documentary filmmaker and works with African American and Hispanic youth between the ages of 3-17 teaching film and video technology, which they use to create alternative techniques for conflict resolution. She encourages her students to think critically about hip-hop music and television and familiarizes them with writing business proposals and conducting Internet research. Jeannine is the co-founder of the arts outreach programs Positive Minds and Education Through the Arts. In the future, she hopes to build a community-accessible media literacy center that will help bridge the digital divide by engaging undergraduate students from local colleges to give back to their communities by teaching media arts.