Kathlyn Mary Cooney

Dr. Kara Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA.

Specializing in women and power, coffin studies, and economies in the ancient world, Dr. Cooney received her PhD in Egyptology from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. In 2005, she was co-curator of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Dr. Cooney also produced a comparative archaeology television series entitled Out of Egypt, which aired in 2009 and is available online via Netflix and Amazon.

The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt, Dr. Cooney’s first trade book, was released in 2014 and benefits from her expert perspective on Egypt’s ancient history to craft an illuminating biography of its least well-known female king.

As an archaeologist who has worked at various excavations in Egypt, Dr. Cooney draws from the latest field research to fill in the gaps in the historical records of female kings such as Hatshepsut and Nefertiti.