About Me
As a freelance editor, I have edited novels, memoirs, graduate theses and dissertations, and corporate publications.
My novel Red Hook was nominated for an Edgar Award, and I am also the author of the novels The Graving Dock, Neptune Avenue, The Ninth Step, and Boombox, as well as the nonfiction book Storms Can't Hurt the Sky. I have written for the New York Times, Poets & Writers, Gourmet.com, Time Out New York, and many other publications.
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I teach writing at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where I focus on novels, journalism, essays, and graduate theses. I have also taught writing or literature courses at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the Center for Fiction, Long Island University’s Summer Writers Lab, and Roundtable Cultural Seminars.
I was a staff writer and listings editor for the New Haven Advocate weekly newspaper; founded and coordinated the Sundays at Sunny’s literary reading series in Brooklyn; was a guest lecturer aboard the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner; and write book reviews. I am a graduate of Wesleyan University.
Reviews & Blurbs
“This first effort from Cohen works both as a good mystery and a literary novel. It is better than promising: it is accomplished.” —Publishers Weekly on Red Hook
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“This elegantly written novel tackles wrenching questions in an unflinching, kindhearted way. It gives no easy answers, and it shouldn’t—to do so would diminish the novel’s complicated delight in the noisy, gritty tangle of urban life.” —Time Out New York on Boombox
“Intricate, atmospheric, funny, and enthralling . . . an impressive crime novel from a powerful, promising new writer.”—George Pelecanos on The Graving Dock
“Overflowing with grit, melancholy sweep, and a kind of wise tenderness, The Graving Dock delivers a smart and compelling mystery that draws us closely to its story of loss and the haunting pull of memory.”—Megan Abbott on The Graving Dock
“Encouraging and accessible throughout, Cohen’s book will make a useful tool for readers going through a difficult break-up.”—Publishers Weekly on Storms Can’t Hurt the Sky
"An impeccable procedural plus a poignant love story, intelligent, understated, and refreshing.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Neptune Avenue
“Spellbinding . . . Deftly plotted and convincingly written.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on The Ninth Step