Cooper King

Biography

Background

Cooper is currently pursuing his PhD in TransGothic Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He has presented work in Gothic Studies, Queer Studies, and Audio Horror in international conferences. He also has a history in archives and libraries, and currently works with Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive in cataloguing, research, and events. 

Cooper attended James Madison University after receiving the Madison Achievement Award for his extensive service to his local communities adding up to over 300 hours. He continued this community service into his years at James Madison, while also studying English Literature and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In his free time he played the clarinet and saxophone, and volunteered in the musical world. In his final year of study, he completed an internship for the Feminisms and Rhetorics conference, reading abstracts and putting together thematic panels as well as compiling relevant information for attendees of the conference.

After he graduated, he returned to Pittsburgh where he worked for Carnegie Libraries until he received an offer to attend the University of Edinburgh. His dissertation for his masters was examining the contemporary Queer Gothic through a comparative lens. His final chapter, speaking about Gothic Radio and Contemporary Podcasting, is an area of interest he continues into his PhD.

Cooper started his PhD in 2023 and also volunteers and produces research and outreach for Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive. 

Qualifications

MSc Literature and Modernity, University of Edinburgh, 2021.

BA of English, Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies, James Madison University, 2019.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Assistant Archivist at Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive- organiser of Queer Gothic Words

Member of the International Gothic Association

Research summary

My research interests lie broadly within the intersection of Gothic studies and Queer studies. While vast categories, my output and focus is around TransGothic intertextuality, audio horror, and queer and trans history. 

Knowledge exchange

  • Delivering a presentation on Gothic Audio Horror for Dracula Bites, a series in connection with Dracula's connection to Derby. A link of the presentation is in Media.
  • Interviewing participants and researching book history around Crime and Gothic for Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive. Impact is my research being displayed in the Oral History Exhibition at the Museum of Edinburgh in the spring of 2026. 
  • Interviewed and featured in an episode on Queer Edinburgh on Dr. James Barry as a queer figure for the Canadian television show Pride the LGBTQ+ History Series.

Affiliated research centres

Organiser

(Assistant and intern organiser/abstract reader) Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, 2019.

Participant

Monster Media Conference, Panel Chair

Papers delivered

 

"Familiar Phantoms: Audio Monsters and their collaborative visibility", Monster Media Conference, June 2026

'"And now, the weather." Queer Gothic Horror Audio and the ‘Listening Renaissance’, Horror Studies Now, May 2026.

"'For now, goodbye ladies and gentleman. I'll see you in Transylvania'- Gothic Radio and Contemporary Horror Podcasting", Dracula Bites Series, April 2026.

"Slaying and Staking Claim, Queer Vampiric TTRPGS", Dracula Returns to Derby, May 2025.

This article was published on