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Shelby Cooke

is a freelance writer and David Bowie fanatic. She writes on culture and media, with a specific focus on British cinema and society. Her articles have included topics such as: the role social realism films play on cultural identity, the queering of the aristocracy in British costume dramas, David Bowie as a transnational identity and Paddington Bear in a post-Brexit Britain. 

Shelby completed her masters degree at the University of East Anglia, researching the cultural and societal impact of cinematic representations. Her thesis, "David Bowie is the Englishman from Mars: An Examination of Englishness through Stardom", explores the representation of Bowie's national identity through his on screen performances. The completed thesis is archived in the British Film Institute's Reuben Library, and the first two chapters are published in the Celebrity Studies Journal. 

Shelby is a founder of Film East, a member of the BFI's Young Film Programmers Network. The group provides a platform for young audiences to experience cinema through immersive and interactive film screenings. The group offers events, screenings, workshops and more, serving the East of England. 

She was previously the Film Editor at Concrete Newspaper, where she worked with student journalists to write in-depth film articles based around philosophical art concepts. She is now the Editor-in-Chief for Film East Online, providing a place for new writers to improve their skills via film writing.

In addition to writing, Shelby is also a freelance social media marketer, working with art organisations throughout the UK. She is currently working on the audio art piece, Locality, which is an avant-garde musical project that uses the sounds of a city to create an experimental musical narrative, reflecting the movement of a local community and bringing musicality to the mundanity of everyday life. The project has been included in the Young Norfolk Arts Festival's 'no space, every place' exhibition and in Curat10n's exhibition, 'Movement.'

Shelby is open for commissions, and you can contact her at shelby.l.cooke@gmail.com or via any social media link below. 

Awards and Recognition 

  • Nominated for "Best Marketing and Publicity" for Film East at the 2020 Film Society of the Year Awards, presented by Cinema for All and the British Federation of Film Societies
  • Interviewed on BBC Radio Norfolk for Film East, August 2020
  • Writer of the Month - Most Popular: August 2020, presented by The Indiependent for "I'm Irish: Paul Mescal vs The British Empire"
  • Recognised by Emmy-nominated actor Paul Mescal and prominent Irish politicians for "I'm Irish: Paul Mescal vs The British Empire"
  • Featured as notable alumni on the University of East Anglia's Career Central social media, March 2020
  • Invited to do an Instagram Take-Over of @kinoselect, February 2020
  • Review featured on Lie Low (2019) official marketing, June 2019
  • Winner of ‘Best Programme of the Year’ by BBC Radio 4 Today Student Journalism Awards for A Week in Concrete (co-host of 4 episodes); runner-up for ‘Best Publication of the Year' for Concrete, April 2019
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Print Publications 

"David Bowie is the Englishman from Mars: an examination of Englishness through stardom", Celebrity Studies, DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2020.1769489, 2020

"Untitled" (A Dadaists Poem), Young Norfolk Arts Festival Zine, 2020

Times Shifting Anthology: coming soon

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Exhibitions

Locality
Open Art: Movement (2019). Curat10n, Online. 13 January 2020 - Present.

Open Art: Movement (2019). Curat10n, Espacio Gallery, London. 29th February 2020. 
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'no space, every place' (2020). Young Norfolk Arts Festival, Norwich. 2 July 2020 - 6 July 2020

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