Things I Wrote Down

Things I Wrote Down

Home
Podcast
Books + Plays
UnveilTV
About

Links to my books and details about my work

Books by Andrew Kooman

Things I Wrote Down is a reader-supported newsletter. Show support by becoming a subscriber or when you buy one of my books through an Amazon link on this post.

  • You can buy my work, including The Many Dreams of Joseph, She Has A Name, my Ten Silver Coins YA novels, poetry and more on Amazon.

Shop Andrew's Work on Amazon

Shop Andrew's scripts on Skit Guys

  • You can check out my work with Matt and Dan on our streaming platform UnveilTV, where you can watch She Has A Name, Dream, Breath of Life, MAiD in Canada and other films and series.

Watch what inspires you on UnveilTV

The following is an annotated list of some of my more popular works for the page, stage and screen.

POPCORN HELMET - Picture Book

Popcorn Helmet - the new illustrated book by Andrew Kooman, art by J.E. Serait

Buy Now

When Ms. Spickle challenges her students to come up with an idea that will change the world, Ramsey P. Heaton has a billion-dollar concept.

But will it earn him a passing grade? And, more importantly, does Ramsey bring enough butter?

A hilarious and imaginative story from the creative mind of award-winning author Andrew Kooman, this is a book kids will love and parents will love to read to them.

TEN SILVER COINS - YA Novels

The beloved adventure series for young audiences and audiences that are young at heart from the imagination of award-winning author Andrew Kooman.

Ten Silver Coins - Book 1 by Andrew Kooman

Buy Book 1

Ten Silver Coins - Book 2 - by Andrew Kooman

Buy Book 2

Critical Acclaim

"A rich, adventurous tale... with hints of... legendary authors like C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle and J.R.R. Tolkien."
~ Red Deer Express

"Thoroughly engaging and refreshingly original, Kooman’s richly visual style injects a compelling liveliness to every page.”
~ Mark WeberThe Many Dreams of Joseph

SIMPLE CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR

Buy Now

When Mr. Tate gives the Sunday School class the bad news—that there aren't enough volunteers to put on the Christmas production—Ramsey P. Heaton has another billion-dollar idea.

He tells the church committee it's time to go big or go home: lights and music and dazzle. Ramsey thinks out of the box. Drones instead of angels, virtual reality headsets for the Wisemen, and a show-stopping production that won't just fill seats but will also sell tickets.

But maybe, just maybe, in all the excitement, he's overlooking the most precious part of Christmas.

The Many Dreams of Joseph - Andrew Kooman - Special Edition Hardcover

Buy Now

The Many Dreams of Joseph explores five of the named Josephs in the Bible through poems, short stories and the main thing they have in common: prophetic, technicolour dreams they share through the centuries.

This is Joseph, like you've never imagined him before.

Read a sample passage for each Joseph

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

She Has A Name (Film)

Stream it now on UnveilTV, Amazon Prime or ChristianCinema.com

Synopsis: Jason, a lawyer, poses as a john to build a legal case against the ruthless pimp who is trafficking girls into Thailand. He meets Number 18, a girl forced to work as a prostitute in a busy Bangkok bar, only to discover her testimony is key to proving his case. Can he convince her to risk her life to testify for the sake of justice? She Has A Name explores the global corruption that allows for human sex trafficking across borders and for criminals to thrive off of this industry.

The motion picture soundtrack features music by a list of talented artists, including The Brilliance, New Portals, Luca Fogale, and Isaac Haines.

Critical Praise for She Has A Name

“A RIVETING, FAST-PACED POLITICAL THRILLER”
– Calgary Herald

“SHE HAS A NAME IS A HUGELY IMPORTANT FILM, BRINGING HOME THE REALITIES OF A GLOBAL ISSUE THAT MUST BE TACKLED. I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO [WATCH] IT AND HELP TO FUND FREEDOM.”
– Her Royal Highness, Princess Eugenie of York

SHE HAS A NAME “OFFERS A UNIQUE AND TIMELY PERSPECTIVE INTO THE REALITIES OF THIS CRISIS”
– Canon Andrew White, ‘Vicar of Baghdad’ 

“A CINEMATIC TRIUMPH!”
– Red Deer Express

SHE HAS A NAME “IS A FILM OF DEPTH AND DETAIL, HONESTLY PORTRAYING HOW COUNTLESS PEOPLE LOSE LIFE AND LIBERTY TO RUTHLESS CRIMINALS.”
– Kevin Hyland, OBE, The United Kingdom’s First Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner

“SCENES RING SEARINGLY TRUE.”
– Red Deer Advocate

She Has A Name premiered globally in select theatres on December 2, 2016 on the UN’s International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.  The film opened in London, England; Belfast, Ireland; Capetown, South Africa; Ottawa, Ontario; Courtenay, BC and Andrew’s hometown of Red Deer, Alberta.

Local playwright Andrew Kooman’s powerful play about sex trafficking

About She Has A Name the Stage Play

She Has A Name was given the 2009 Scripts At Work/Alberta Playwright Network Award. It received dramaturgical input from a committee of the Alberta Playwright Network in the Spring of 2009 under the oversight of APN director Johanne Deleeuw. In January 2010, the play underwent a workshop with Burnt Thicket Theatre of Calgary, Alberta under the direction of Steve Waldshmidt, a process which culminated in a public reading of the play on January 10, 2010.

In October 2010, the play will have a public reading in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a series of readings to follow in Alberta in October and November 2010. Burnt Thicket Theatre in partnership with Raise Their Voice  produced the World Premiere of She Has A Name to sold out audiences in Calgary in February 2011, followed by a sold out run of performances in Red Deer. In 2012 the play toured Canada for 6 months in 13 cities from Halifax to Victoria.

She Has A Name had its World Premiere in Calgary, Alberta in 2011 garnering critical praise and selling out each show.  It also received critical praise with its new cast in 2012 when the play toured Canada from coast to coast.

Since the successful tour, the play has been produced across North America by both professional and community theatres in places like New York, California, Alberta, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

In December 2016 She Has A Name made its big screen debut.  The Unveil Studios film was adapted for the screen by Andrew Kooman The film stars Will Yun Lee, Eugenia Yuan, Teresa Ting, Giovanni Mocibob and Gil Bellows. The film received the Audience Choice Award at the 2017 Central Alberta Film Festival and was nominated for 5 Alberta Film and Television Awards.  The Calgary Herald called the fill a “Riveting, fast-paced political thriller” while the Red Deer Express named it a “Cinematic triumph.”

In 2016 was a big year for the play.  Andrew adapted the play for a US/Mexico version that is currently being translated into Spanish. This contextualized version of for Latin America premiered Off-Broadway in January and February of 2017  in New York City.

We Are the Body

Synopsis:

Imprisoned in solitary confinement behind the Iron Curtain of post-war Romania, Elsie’s only companions are two other prisoners she cannot touch or see, tortured like Elsie for their beliefs.

As they tap out messages in Morse code from the confines of their lonely cells, the unseen companions trigger memories from her former life, especially her love affair before the war. Past and present collide as Elsie tries to imagine a future without torture or faith.

Production History:

We Are the Body had a public reading in Rosebud, Alberta in November of 2012. The play was developed in part through a Scripts At Work Playwright Circle led by Gordon Pengilly in 2012. The Burnt Theatre production of the play toured Western Canada in 2015

Critical Praise for We Are the Body

“Andrew Kooman’s We Are the Body is a thoughtful, harrowing drama…. It all has the ring of authentic truth to it….The cast… turn in powerful performances.”
— Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald

“FOUR STARS…We Are the Body couldn’t be more relevant and unsettling.”
— Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Sun

“At a time when the planet is boiling over with religious conflict, We Are the Body dramatizes the redemptive power of faith in a way [that] is universal.”
— Calgary Herald

“Rewarding, moving… delightful!”
— Theatre critic Colette Kehler

“The lyrical, intense script delivered an emotion-packed evening of theatre.”
— Red Deer Advocate

“Waldschmidt clearly has a way with actors – Bratton, McIver and Pattengale are all exceptional….Pattengale, in particular, is outstanding.” — Red Deer Express

Delft Blue

“Delft Blue is my attempt to salvage some of the sense of feeling, some of the meaning of living in that time. At its heart, it is a play that explores the impossible decisions people must make in impossible times, which seems especially relevant today. And underneath it all is a question about what it really means to resist and to live a good life when the world and everything around us has changed.” 

– Andrew Kooman

Synopsis: When Holland falls to the Nazis in May of 1940 after a brief but surprising resistance, Machiel and Sophia van Leeuwen prepare for a long and difficult occupation in a war Holland never dreamed it would enter.  Along with their 12-year-old daughter Johanna, they are soon faced with impossible decisions: to choose between resistance and passivity, family and friendship and whether or not the sincere faith they’ve observed with its quiet traditions might now require unthinkable violence.

Production History: In November 2020, Burnt Thicket Theatre presented an online reading of the play to commemorate Remembrance Day and the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Holland. The reading was online from November 11 – 30.

The reading was re-released by Burnt Thicket Theatre to commemorate Remembrance day from November 8 – 14, 2021. Through the workshop and reading process, Burnt Thicket is dramaturging some scenes with Andrew as part of the process to bring the story to a full production in the future.

Andrew has adapted the script to a screenplay, which has garnered early acclaim:

  • Finalist, Forest City Film Festival Screenplay Competition (2019)

  • Finalist, Pitch Now Screenplay Competition (2019)

  • Best Screenplay Nominee, Top Indie Film Awards (2018)

  • Semi-Finalist Filmmatic Screenplay Awards (2018)

  • Official Selection, Northeast Filmmakers Lab (2018)

Media Coverage of Andrew’s Work

© 2025 Andrew Kooman
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture