Elizabeth Cohen
poet, author, writing coach, editor
I am a New Mexican poet, editor and author, 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 serve as editorial consultant for Mnemosyne Books, a womens memoir imprint.
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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I have an MFA in creative writing/poetry from Columbia University and 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 and publisher, returning to my beloved home state of New Mexico.
In addition to serving on the editorial board of Mnemosyne, I am on the board and edit for High Desert Haint, a Santa Fe publisher and formerly served on the board of the North Star Museum of the Underground Railroad, among other associations. I teach creative writing classes 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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Jeri Desrochers, Braceros Series Lettuce, 2012, oil on canvas. Collection of New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum. Gift of Jeri Desrochers (2020.011.2).
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum (Las Cruces, NM).
Adult Category Winner
The Sound of One Hand Shouting
by Elizabeth Cohen
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You can hear colors sometimes.
Lean over. Put your ear to the paint.
Shut your eyes.
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That’s the sound of orange becoming a hat.
Of blue becoming wrinkles in a shirt.
Specks of green, a head of lettuce.
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That sound is the sound of colors breathing.
The sound of sweat becoming food.
The sound of paint becoming a field
Into the labor that feeds us.
Turning a slash of white into a slicing knife.
That is the sound of colors shouting.
The sound of yourself believing.
Elizabeth Deborah Cohen
https://web.plattsburgh.edu/academics/english/faculty/cohen.php
CURRENT POSITION
CEO, Book Coach Magick and Editor, Mnemosyne Books, 2012- Present
Edit, Coach, and Assist Writers With Writing Projects, from Poetry to Memoir
Boutique Publisher of Women's Memoirs
www.bookcoachmagick.com
www.mnemosynememoir.com
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EDUCATION
Columbia University New York, NY
MFA, Creative Writing, poetry, 1990
Temple University Philadelphia, PA
MA, Anthropology of Visual Communications (interdisciplinary program on cultural studies and filmmaking) 1986
University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM
BA, Anthropology, minor English. Magna Cum Laude, 1983
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
From Most Recent:
SUNY Plattsburgh, August 2010-2022
Associate Professor of English, Writing Arts Division/English
Editor, Saranac Review
Taught college writing, composition, memoir, poetry, fiction, literature
and creative writing courses to undergraduates.
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Western Connecticut State University 2008-2010
Assistant Professor of Writing, Linguistics and Creative Process
Taught English 100, 101, journalism and creative writing courses to undergraduates
Western Connecticut State University 2007-2008
Writer-in-Residence, MFA PROFESSIONAL WRITING PROGRAM
Taught graduate students journalism, poetry, memoir and magazine writing
Gotham Writer’s Workshop 2007-present
Teach creative non-fiction and fiction courses online to online adult learners
Broome Community College- 2006
Taught undergraduate comp and creative writing courses focusing on fiction, playwriting, poetry and CNF essay.
State University of New York — Binghamton 2005
Philip and Eleanor Piaker Chair for Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Judaic Studies. Taught creative writing.
The New School for Social Research- New York City 1998
Created and taught one year long course in publishing and writing for the internet.
University of New Mexico – Gallup Branch 1995
Taught courses in English department, Writing & Rhetoric, English Composition and Introduction to Journalism
CUNY Staten Island- 1989
Taught English composition, rhetoric and college writing
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WRITING Honors/Awards
* Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, 2003
* New York Times Notable Book of the Year selection, 2003
* New York State Associated Press Award recipient
* State of New York Legislative Resolution honoring The Family on Beartown Road
* Winner, fiction category, Adirondack Writer’s Project, Saranac, NY 2014, for The Hypothetical Girl
* Winner, New England Medical Writer’s Association Award
* Winner, Jon Davidoff Scholarship, Wesleyan Writer’s Conference
* Columbia School of Journalism Certificate of Merit winner for “outstanding work in the coverage of race and ethnicity in journalism”
* MacDowell Colony Fellow, The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
* Distinguished Visiting Poet, The Poetry Center, Paterson, NJ
* Weekly Book Selection, The Hypothetical Girl, O Magazine, 2013
* Co-Winner, best book of poems, BIRD LIGHT, 2016, Adirondack Center for Writing
Books
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The Hypothetical Girl, Other Press/Penguin August 2013. Fiction. Short stories on the theme of digital love.
The House on Beartown Road (paperback title The Family on Beartown Road), Random House .2003/4. In print, large print, digital and audio. New York Times notable book of the Year, 1st chapter featured on N.YTimes web site. B&N Discover Great New Writers winner, State of New York Legislative Resolution. Excerpted widely in national magazines including Reader’s Digest and the Times of London Sunday Magazine.
The Scalpel and the Silver Bear, Bantam. 1998 a biography of first Native American woman surgeon. Written with Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord. Excerpt printed in The New York Times, and in A Life in Medicine: A Literary Anthology, Random House, edited by Robert Cole. Winner, New England Medical Writer’s Association Award.
Mermaids of Albuquerque, poems, Saint Julian Press, 2024 (forthcoming)
Martini Tattoo, poems, Alien Buddha Press, 2022
Wonder Electric, poems, Kelsay Books, 2021
The Patron Saint of Cauliflower, poems, Saint Julian Press 2019
Bird Light, poems, Saint Julian Press, 2016
What the Trees Said, poems, Split Oak Press, 2013
The Economist’s Daughter, poems, Excited Utterance Press, 2009
Mother Love, poems, Keshet Press, 2008
Impossible Furniture, poems, Nightshade Press, 1995
Georgie, the Flying Dog, children’s book, Trafford, 2004
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PERIODICAL EXPERIENCE
Newspaper, Magazine and Anthology Publications (Selected)
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“A Plague and a Blessing in My Empty Nest”, essay. NYT, 2018
“Anthropologist of Love” in THE WRITER MAGAZINE, Winter, 2013. Essay about writing about relationships and love.
“The House that Sylvia Built,” Adirondack Life, 2015. Forthcoming article about writer Kate Moses’ house in Essex, NY
“Choosing Happiness.” SELF Magazine, An article about the obsession of Americans with optimism and feeling good, August, 2009.
“A Predator in the House,” Brain, Child, 2015.
“The Fifth Commandment.” Bread and Fire: Jewish Women Find God in the Everyday, Urim Press, 2008.
“Love at Any Age.“ Behind the Bedroom Door: Women Write about Sex, Random House, 2009.
“Love at Age.” In MORE Magazine, Dec., 2008.
“Bless.” Poem in Connecticut River Review.
“The Gravity Doctor.” Short story in The Full Moon Anthology, spring 2010.
“Listening to Water.” Poem in anthology of the same name, Foothills Press, 2008.
“A House Made of Straw.” Press & Sun Bulletin, Feb. 2008.
“Close to Home.” Newspaper columns, Press & Sun-Bulletin, 2005-2009.
“Love Shine.” Short Story in Small Spiral notebook, 2004.
Additional creative pieces – stories, poems and essays— in lit mags and journals, including Blue Mesa; San Antonio Review; Yale Review; Northwest Review; River Styx; Open City; Kalliope; Ellipsis: Literature and Art; Los Angeles Cultural Weekly; and in numerous anthologies such as Which Side Are You On (Moonstone Anthologies, 2023); Love in the Original Language (Moonstone Anthologies 2022); Walk on the Wild Side: Urban American Poetry since 1975 (Scribners), edited by Nicholas Christopher, and others.
EDITORIAL
Editor, The Saranac Review, 2010- 2020
Fiction Editor, The Broome Review, 2008-2011
Staff Editor, The Columbia Review, 1989-90
Editor, Conceptions Southwest, 1982
Journalism (Selected)
Press & Sun Bulletin
• Columnist: penned weekly column, book reviewer, features reporter for Gannett Daily (1999-2008)
• Won Columbia University School of Journalism Certificate of Merit for special issue of newspaper “Who Are We” and for creating ongoing annual youth newspaper in Binghamton, NY, awarded at national conference “Let’s Do It Better: Workshops on Journalism, Race, and Ethnicity” in New York City
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Won New York State Associated Press award on two occasions
The New York Times
• Worked as a clerk and op-ed assistant to Anna Quindlen, then as stringer, (1990-1995)
• Served as online editor for New York Times Book Forum, cyberforums, 1990
• Wrote articles for sections including Health, Home, Science, Education, Technology, Cybertimes, Sunday Book Review, Metro, and National (including a page-one story)
The New York Post
• Worked as a reporter (1997-9), filing stories on health, women’s issues, trends, fashion, book reviews, assorted cultural topics
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Freelance Pieces in: (Selected)
Glamour, Self, Mademoiselle, Family Circle, The Jewish Forward, PEOPLE, The New York Times, The NEw York Times Magazine, L.A. Cultural Weekly, The Writer's Digest, Reader's Digest, and other national and international magazines
For article examples and book excerpts, go to www.elizabethcohen.me
Readings and PUBLIC APPEARANCES (Selected)
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Visiting Author, Knox College, May, 2015
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AWP conference, organized and moderated two panels, spring 2015
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Visiting Author, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, fall, 2013
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Visiting Writer, Poets & Writer’s Grant, Saranac Library Free Library, September, 2013
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Visiting Poet, Bright Hill Literary Arts Center, Treadwell, NY September 2013
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Writing Along the River, A Celebration of Place, Owego, NY, May 2009
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Broome Public Library, Binghamton, NY – Three Upstate Poets Reading, 2008
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Faculty Reading Series, Western Connecticut State University, 20009
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Visiting Poet, The Poetry Center, Patterson, NJ – Taught workshop
and gave reading with poet Tom Lux, 2007.​
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Manhattan readings at such venues as KGB, Cornelia Street Café,
Nuyorican Café, Bowery Poetry Café, The Poetry Project, and Barnes &
Noble., among other locales.
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Internationally recognized speaker on topics of elder care, Alzheimer’s disease, end-of-life decision making (spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Association). Also lecture on women and work and raising families. Speeches and keynotes, including:
Keynote, Broome County Council of Churches, 2008
Visiting Lecturer, Syracuse University, 2008
Keynote, Cortland Respite Care women’s luncheon, 2007
Keynote, American Association of University Women, 2006
Keynote, NY State Teachers Association 20th Anniversary Luncheon, 2006
Keynote, Geriatric Scholar Certificate Program, 2005
Keynote, Alzheimer’s Awareness Luncheon, Alzheimer’s Society, Western Canada, 2005
Keynote, Advance Care Planning Week, Southern Tier End of Life Coalition, 2005
Keynote, London Elder Care Symposium, 2005
Invited Lecturer, Social Work Teaching Day, Binghamton, NY, 2005
Keynote, “A Celebration of Caring,” Alzheimer’s Association, Pittsburgh, 2004
Keynote, “When the Diagnosis is Alzheimer’s: Help for the Journey,” Alzheimer’s Association, Kingston, NY, 2003
Film
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My Kid Could Paint That (Sony Classic Pictures, 2007)
Narrator and commentator throughout documentary released in nationally and aired on Lifetime, based on a local news story penned about a four-year-old artist becoming world famous.
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References
Brian Clements
Professor, Coordinator, MFA in Professional Writing
Western Connecticut State University
181 White St.
Danbury, NY 12902
(203)837-8876
Hired and supervised me as writer in residence in the MFA Professional Writing Program.
Liz Rosenberg
Professor of English
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY 13902
(607) 797-6599
Referred me for Piaker Chair in Creative Writing at Binghamton University.
Alex Steele
Director
The Gotham Writer’s Workshop
NYC
(212)974-8377
Hired me and supervises me at GWW.