Nilla Cram Cook (December 21, 1908 – October 11, 1982), also known as Nila Nagini Devi, was an American writer, linguist, translator, and arts patron.

Early life

Nilla Cram Cook was born in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, the daughter of playwright George Cram Cook and his second wife, journalist Mollie Anastasia Price. Her father and stepmother

Susan Glaspell Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known ...

brought her to Greece as a girl, to study languages and culture there.

Career

In 1931, Cook left her husband in Greece and brought her young son to

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, where she became a follower of Gandhi, converted to Hinduism, and studied Sanskrit, Hindi, and Persian literatures. After she left Gandhi's

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

, with a shaved head and barefoot, she crashed a car, and was detained as a vagrant and hospitalized for a month in 1934, in Calcutta, then deported with her son back to the United States. On arrival at Ellis Island, she made odd pronouncements ("delusions of grandeur", according to her brother), and news stories remarked on the "dramatic" and "hectic" scene. She wrote about this part of her life in a memoir, ''My Road to India'' (1939).

Mary Sully Mary Sully (1896–1963) was a Yankton Dakota avant-garde artist. Her work was largely unknown until the early 21st century. Sully is best known today for colored-pencil Triptych, triptychs and "personality portraits" which often depicted celebr ...

painted an abstract portrait titled "Nila Cram Cook" in the 1930s. In 1939, she became Europe correspondent for an American weekly, ''Liberty.'' She covered World War II from Greece, until she escaped Nazi detention in July 1941, and fled with her son to Tehran. She worked as a cultural attaché at the American Embassy in Tehran from 1941 to 1947. During that time, Cook converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, and spent years on a personal project, editing and translating the Koran into English, with her own commentary. She held a high position in Iran's Ministry of Education, oversaw film censorship, and went on radio to read her translations of poetry. She helped build national theatre, ballet, and opera programs in Iran in the 1940s. She worked with a fellow American expatriate, dancer

Xenia Zarina Xenia Zarina (1903 – August 15, 1967), born June Zimmerman, was an American dancer. Early life June Zimmerman was the daughter of Oliver Brunner Zimmerman and Grace Adele Bushnell Zimmerman. Contrary to some accounts of her early life, both ...

, in Iran. Cook took a renewed interest in Kashmir in 1954, and compiled a book of translated poems, titled ''The Way of the Swan: Poems of Kashmir'' (1958).

Personal life

At age 18, in 1927, Nilla Cram Cook married Greek poet and government official Nikos Proestopoulos; they had a son, Serios Nicholas Proestopoulos (also known as Sirius Cook), and divorced in 1932. She married again very briefly, to Albert Nathaniel Hutchins in 1934; that marriage was annulled. Cook toured in Greece with her son and cousin and their wives in 1965. She died in 1982, aged 74 years, in Neunkirchen, Austria. Her gravesite is in

Delphi, Greece Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracl ...

, next to her father's grave there.

References

External links

"Nila Cram Cook Takes First Flight"
(1934), photograph in the Lammot du Pont, Jr. collection of aeronautical photographs,

Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont ...

in Delaware. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Nilla Cram 1908 births 1982 deaths People from Davenport, Iowa American Hindus American Muslims Gandhians American women writers American translators