Montana Author Allen Cooper to Read and Sign His Novel at Hastings in Bozeman on January 30

Montana State University graduate and Red Lodge resident, Allen Andrew Cooper, will be hosting a reading and book-signing of his novel, Return to Madison River, at Hastings (1601 W Main St) on Friday January 30th from noon to 2 p.m.

This self-proclaimed renaissance man is the author of numerous short stories, which enabled him to pursue a creative writing scholarship to Copiah-Lincoln Community College in his home state of Mississippi. While there, he won the Southern Literary Festival in 1991 for his one-act play “To Hiram.” His website goes on to say,

Allen moved to Montana in 1992 to pursue his love of hunting, hiking, fly-fishing and downhill skiing. In his spare time he earned a Bachelor’s Degree at Montana State University. He has been a peace officer, a farrier, a salesman, a songwriter, handyman, tour guide and a private investigator.

He turned to music and songwriting and has held publishing deals in Nashville and Los Angeles. He is the co-writer of “Lead On” which held top spots on the independent country chart for several weeks in 2002. He mostly abandoned his fiction writing for many years, but recently, Allen has won the Reno Film Festival’s Screenplay Synopsis Contest in 2009 and 2010.  In 2012, he self-published one novel, Return to Madison River. He has also authored a screenplay, “Sheepdogs.” He continues to write and is working on his next novel.  He lives in Red Lodge, Montana.

Return to Madison River has been described as having "a magical Montana sense of place", with the Madison River anchoring the story. Cooper emphasizes that this novel is a love story – not a romance – and that it “makes a statement about what it is to be human, to be in love, and to care for another long after that love has waned."

Come out and meet this renaissance man and hear him read from his novel.