Elizabeth Cohen
poet, author, writing coach, editor, activist
I am a New Mexico-based author and poet, running a boutique book coaching business, BookCoachMagick, offering everything from one-on-one intensive manuscript coaching and writing services, to global writing retreat experiences. I edit Memoirabilia, an online memoir journal and foster care unwanted dogs.
In addition to these activities, I write poetry, fiction and essays. New stories and works can be read in The Coachella Review, Spotlong Review, Cagibi, Minyan Magazine, Confetti, Persimmon Tree, Brussels Review, Reed Magazine, and other literary venues. My poems have been recently published in Blue Mesa, San Antonio Review, A Room of Her Own; Crosswinds, Yale Review, and anthologies such as Love in the Original Language, Walk on the Wild Side: Urban American Poetry Since 1975; Ink; Sonia Sanchez at 90; Rising From the Ashes: Musings on Menopause, edited by Lisa Seidlarz, Too Much Love: Stories of Mothering, edited by Nitza Agam, and the forthcoming Climate Change Chronicles. In addition, I am the author of six books of poetry, a celebrated memoir, a book of short stories, and The Scalpel and The Silver Bear, a co-authored book of essays with Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord, the first Navajo woman surgeon, recently (March 2025) chosen by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five best books about women in science.
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I am excited to announce the release of my new book of poetry,
Mermaids of Albuquerque, from Saint Julian Press this spring:
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With an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, I recently retired from my position as an associate professor of English from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh to work on my writing and as a full-time writing coach (www.bookcoachmagick.com).
I serve on the editorial board of Mnemosyne, a publisher of memoirs by women, and imprint of Saint Julian Press, in Houston, Texas; and on the board and as an editor for High Desert Haint, a Santa Fe publisher, and served on the board of the North Star Museum of the Underground Railroad, among other associations. I teach memoir with Gotham Writers Workshops in New York City.
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I love books and writing them. I love a tough freelance journalism assignment I can dig into. I like to draw, although I am pretty bad at it. I love to go to far flung places and then write about them.
I stand for things. A peace advocate, I stand for fair pay, equal rights, reproductive rights, queer and trans rights, diversity, feminism, preserving the natural places of the planet, and protecting the animals.
I have volunteered at Barrett House, a women's shelter in Albuquerque where I run writing workshops. I work with special needs children in the Albuquerque Public Schools.
I love kids, dogs, and horses. I love black coffee and rye toast.
That about covers it.
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Former Editor of Saranac Review
Visiting Professor WCSU
MFA Mentor, WCSU
SUNY Plattsburgh Associate Professor
Gotham Writers Workshops Instructor
Book Reviewer (American Book Review, @theinkwell)
MacDowell Fellow
Columbia University MFA
UNM BA, Magna Cum Laude,
Oprah Magazine Book-of-the-Week
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