Madalena Cocozza

ABOUT MADALENA

 

Madalena Cocozza was born in the Calton, Glasgow in 1935, the youngest of four daughters of Eugene Cocozza and his wife Ada.

 

She was educated at Our Lady and Saint Francis Senior Secondary in Charlotte Street, Glasgow. Due to family circumstances she left at 15yrs, her hopes of going to university unfulfilled until 2014 when, at the age of 79yrs, she gained a BA in English Literature and History from the Open University.

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For many years she was a part-time tutor in creative writing for the Workers Education Association. This work allowed her to spend most of her time caring for her profoundly disabled son, Stephen.

 

In 1993, after many years of fighting for the rights of Stephen and other local disabled children she founded the Aveyron Day Centre in Burnbank in collaboration with some other parents.

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Writing was vital for her sanity and relaxation and she has written many historical plays which have toured rural Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

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In 2014 she was nominated for Scottish Woman of the Year where she was presented with the Editor’s Community Award for her work with Aveyron.

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Stephen died in 1999  his remarkable life is the subject of her next book ‘An Abbyish in the Sky’

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She is wife to Archie, mother to Alyson, and proud grandmother to Erin, Emma and Lori.