Bernard Cohen

Background

Bernard Cohen was born in 1963 in Michigan and moved to Australia with his family as a baby.

Career

His stories and articles have appeared in newspapers, literary journals, and magazines in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand since 1985. Cohen has also produced radio work. His first book, "Tourism", is a novel and guidebook to one hundred and forty-nine places to visit in Australia.

Cohen’s award-winning novel "The Blindman’s Hat" is set in New York City.

In "The Blindman’s Hat", Vernon, an Australian journalist working in New York, falls in love with Dida, a mobile phone technician. He stops going to work because of his intense love, and his employer begs Vernon to return, then threatens him. Vernon suspects that he has revealed secrets in his column. Throughout the book are philosophic observations by Vernon’s dog Muffy. The blind man from the title is Steve, a missing friend, and Vernon, Muffy, and Dida become caught up in the search.

"Snowdome" is set in contemporary Sydney and at some point in the future. In present-day Sydney, William and his friends live through historical moments, think about the future, and cope with life. The Sydney of the future is a city emptied and turned into a museum.

Cohen lives in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia.

Achievements

• Cohen won the 1996 The Australian / Vogel Literary Award, was three times Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian novelist, won a 2001 Arts Council England Writer's Award and was University of Technology, Sydney Alumnus of the Year 1997.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Tourism

    (A post-modern tour de force, a new kind of novel, and a f...)

    2015
  • The Blindman's Hat

    (Vernon is an expatriate Australian journalist working in ...)

    2015
  • Snowdome 1998