Cooke graduated with a BA from Smith College, following which she worked as a magazine editor in New York City for publications including Penthouse, OMNI, and Avenue.
[1] Cooke is currently a professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts MFA Program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where she co-directs the Center for Transformative Media.
[7] Kirkus Reviews said of Cooke's debut work that her "attractive voice alternately thrusts bluntly and lilts poetically.
The book is set between 1963 and 2005, and explores issues of class against the backdrop of the sexual and political revolutions during the era.
[12] In reviewing the book, critic Georgia Rowe referred to Cooke as one of America's "finest short-story writers".