Leah Hager Cohen is an American author who writes both fiction and nonfiction.
Cohen's father was superintendent of the
Lexington School for the Deaf
Lexington School and Center for the Deaf comprises the Lexington School for the Deaf, the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, Lexington Vocational Services, and the Lexington Center for Mental Health in New York City, aimed at serving the deaf an ...
in
Queens, New York
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...
, and she became fluent in sign language there. She entered
NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
at age 16, intending to study drama, but later transferred to
Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...
to study literature, graduating in 1988. After working as a sign language interpreter for two years, she entered
Columbia Journalism School
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights, Manhattan, Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is ...
, graduating in 1991. Her first book grew out of her masters thesis, in which she reported on deaf culture.
Cohen lives in
Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It is a western suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, United States; and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population stood at 27,295 ...
.
Bibliography
Fiction
* ''Heat Lightning'' (Avon, 1997)
* ''Heart, You Bully, You Punk'' (Viking, 2003)
* ''House Lights'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007)
* ''The Grief of Others'' (Riverhead, 2011)
* ''No Book but the World'' (Riverhead, 2014)
* ''Strangers and Cousins'' (Riverhead, 2019)
Non-Fiction
* ''Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1994)
* ''Glass, Paper, Beans: Revelations on the Nature and Value of Ordinary Things'' (Doubleday, 1997)
* ''The Stuff of Dreams: Behind the Curtain of an American Community Theater'' (Viking, 2001)
* ''Without Apology: Girls, Women, and the Desire to Fight'' (Random House, 2005)
* ''I Don't Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn't)'' (Riverhead, 2013)
External links
LeahHagerCohen.comLove As A Found Object
(Blog)
Boston Globe article on Leah Hager Cohen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Leah Hager
American women writers
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Living people
Hampshire College alumni
New York University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women