Tish Cohen (born December 1, 1963, in Toronto) is a Canadian novelist.

Early life

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Cohen spent most of her childhood in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, but spent her teenage years with her father beginning in the 7th grade at a high school in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

(The OC).Bert Archer
''The lucrative business of speedwriting''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

, May 21, 2007

Career

Tish Cohen finished her studies at the

Ted Rogers School of Management Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

of Toronto Metropolitan University in 1988. Before her writing career, Cohen worked as media buyer at an ad agency, art gallery manager, illustrator,

proofreader Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place co ...

decorative painter A house painter and decorator is a tradesperson responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator, or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is t ...

and editor.

Writing

Cohen is well known for her fast pace writing. Her children's book ''The Invisible Rules of the Zoë Lama'' became a bestseller in Canada in 2007. Her novel ''Town house'' was a 2008 finalist for the Commonwealth Writers Prize' Best First Book Award (Canada and Caribbean region). The right for making her novel ''Town House'' into a movie were bought by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

's fim production company and optioned by

Fox 2000 Fox 2000 Pictures was an American film production company within The Walt Disney Studios. It was a sister studio of the larger film studios 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures, specializing in producing independent films in mid-range re ...

in 2005. It was also translated into German and Italien and published as ''Super Agoraphobietherapie'' in Germany at

Luchterhand Literaturverlag The Luchterhand Literaturverlag is a German publisher of contemporary literature based in Munich. It was founded in 1924, and was acquired by Random House in 2001. Luchterhand is considered one of the most prestigious publishers in Germany. Publi ...

in 2009.

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

attributed to the novel „a constellation of characters whose

idiosyncrasies An idiosyncrasy is a unique feature of something. The term is often used to express peculiarity. Etymology The term "idiosyncrasy" originates from Greek ', "a peculiar temperament, habit of body" (from ', "one's own", ', "with" and ', "blend ...

make the family of

Little Miss Sunshine ''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road movie, road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (in their directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of G ...

look like

Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...

.".

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

criticized the plot as "formulaic", but also described the novel as "terrifically written".

reviewed the novel as follows: "There's more than quirky charm and endearing oddness in the characters Cohen creates." It compared it with

Alexander McCall Smith Sir Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith (born 24 August 1948) is a Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an ...

44 Scotland Street ''44 Scotland Street'' is an episodic novel by Alexander McCall Smith, the author of '' The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency''. The story was first published as a serial in ''The Scotsman'', starting 26 January 2004, every weekday, for six month ...

: "Cohen's Lucie a North American near-relative of McCall Smith's Bertie" and praised this as an "incredible achievement in itself". The

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

recommend the novel as one of four current canlit books for hot summer and described it as "Comic novel about an agoraphobe whose life begins to unravel." The novel ''Inside Out Girl'' was a

Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it fall ...

bestseller in 2009. Allison Burnett signed an agreement to adapt the novel ''Inside Out Girl'' into a movie in August 2009. The novel ''The Truth About Delilah Blue'', which deals with a young woman with an old father with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

and an absent mother, was recommended as one of 10 summer reads by Vit Wagner of

in 2010. Cynthia MacDonald reviewed this novel for

in June 2010 and considered it as "the summer's first terrific beach read". For Tish Cohen's novel "The Search Angel", whose topic is

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...

, the

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

attributed a "story telling talent" to the author in June 2013. Cohen and Barbara Fogler wrote the screenplay for

Sheila McCarthy Sheila McCarthy (born January 1, 1956) is a Canadian actress and singer. She has worked in film, television, and on stage. McCarthy is one of Canada's most honoured actors, having won two Genie Awards (film), two Gemini Awards (television), an AC ...

s short film ''Russet Season'' which premiered at

Toronto Jewish Film Festival The Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF) is an annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is described as the largest Jewish film festival in the world. The festival was founded in 1993. One of its founders, Helen Zukerman, is the f ...

in 2017.Russet Season, Credits

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

Personal life

Cohen is married to a lawyer and has two children.Kathryn Kates
''A flair for fiction, real-life decor: Tish Cohen will soon see her novel Town House made into a movie by a production company headed by Ridley Scott, director of films such as Gladiator, Alien and Blade Runner.''

, September 1, 2007

Bibliography

Novels

* 2007: Town House, Harper Perennial, New York, ** 2009: Tish Cohen: Super Agoraphobietherapie, 2009, Luchterhand-Literaturverlag, (translated into German by Martin Ruben Becker) * 2008: Inside Out Girl, Harper Perennial, New York, * 2010: The Truth About Delilah Blue, Harper Perennial, New York, * 2013: ''The Search Angel'', HarperCollins, New York, * 2019: ''The Summer We Lost Her'' aka ''Little Green'', Gallery Books, New York,

Children's books

* 2007: The Invisible Rules of the Zoë Lama, Dutton Children's Books, * 2008: The One and Only Zoë Lama, Dutton Children's Books, * 2009: Little Black Lies, Egmont, New York, * 2011: Switch, Egmont, New York,

References

External links

Tish Cohen
at

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Tish 21st-century Canadian novelists 1963 births Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women novelists Canadian women children's writers Jewish Canadian novelists Jewish women novelists