Dawn S. Cooley

Dawn S. Cooley (aka Liv Fearless) is a Unitarian Universalist minister who lives in a converted van named Mystique with her fearless canine companion Storm riding shotgun. They are currently somewhere in North America, probably.

Dawn has spent more than two decades preaching, protesting, marrying, burying, and loving the hell out of the world. One memorable stretch having been on a roller derby track where she learned that falling down in front of people is a skill worth practicing. Her ministerial theme, "Loving the Hell Out of the World," won the 2014 Universalist Heritage Award, which she takes as proof that you can put "hell" in the title and still win things.

She holds a computer science degree she mostly doesn't use, a public administration degree she mostly does, and a divinity degree that turned out to be excellent preparation for roller derby. These days she serves as half-time minister at Bradford Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and spends the rest of her time driving wherever the road and the work take her.

Hard Hits & Other Life Lessons from Roller Derby is her first book. It's about courage, the body, community, and getting back up.