Author Spotlight

Barry Arthur Cotton

My interests are very eclectic. I have lived in Japan, Iran, Turkey, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. My Y-male DNA is 99.9% Celtic Irish. I practice Zen and at age 75 was diagnosed as neurodivergent with ADHD. I cannot not create. I have to write.

In 1982, I discovered an old letter my father had from his father that outlined a overview of the family history. I spent ten years investigating to confirm that John Cotton of Boston was my 7th great-grandfather and established proof through admission to nearly twenty lineage societies. So, my first articles were genealogical. Rev. John Cotton was a die-hard Calvinist/Puritan, which is as far from my worldview as possible. So I had to knit-eyebrows with him and began digging. After years of research, draft after draft, learning book formatting-graphic creation-and editing skills, A Tale of Two Bostons was born. During the process, I met and made friends with accomplished authors, academics, and leaders in Bostons: old and new. Honestly, it is gratifying that anyone reads anymore. I craft my books from beginning to end. Work independently of the publishing industry and print my books with a Cambridgeshire, England printer and pride myself as a artisan and storyteller.

I am in the middle of two books on Lady Izumi Shikibu (和泉式部) one of the greatest poets of Heian Japan, celebrated for her intensely emotional waka poetry exploring love, longing, impermanence, and spiritual awakening. Living in the imperial court around the late 10th and early 11th centuries, she became an enduring symbol of passion, beauty, and mono no aware—the poignant awareness of life's transience. One book is a translation and commentary on her diary, and the other is a biography and presentation of 150 of her select poems. Both books are fully illustrated in color to present her life and poetry. Concurrently, I am nearly finished with a biography of my seventh great-grandfather, John Cotton.

About the Author: Barry Arthur Cotton is an author, historian, and artist whose work bridges history, literature, and spiritual inquiry. Educated at 上智大学 (Sophia University) in Tokyo with honors in philosophy and Buddhist studies, he lived, worked, and studied in Japan for seven years and has spent over three decades overseas in the Far East and the Middle East. A former president of the Winthrop Society and now President Emeritus, Cotton’s writing has appeared in Boston: The Small Town with the Big Story, the Winthrop Journal, and the Mayflower Quarterly. After his acclaimed study A Tale of Two Bostons, he turned to contemplative poetry. Lady Izumi Shikibu explores how a thousand-year-old voice speaks to love, loss, and enlightenment, revealing how passion, grief, and awareness converge across cultures and centuries.