Tish Cohen

Born in Toronto, Cohen spent most of her childhood in Montreal, but spent her teenage years with her father beginning in the 7th grade at a high school in Orange County, California (The OC).^[1][3][4]

Tish Cohen finished her studies at the Ted Rogers School of Management of Toronto Metropolitan University in 1988.^[5] Before her writing career, Cohen worked as media buyer at an ad agency, art gallery manager, illustrator, proofreader, decorative painter and editor.^[6][7]

Cohen is well known for her fast pace writing.^[1] 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).^[8][9] The right for making her novel Town House into a movie were bought by Ridley Scott's fim production company and optioned by Fox 2000 in 2005.^[7][10] It was also translated into German and Italien and published as Super Agoraphobietherapie in Germany at Luchterhand Literaturverlag in 2009.^[11] Kirkus Reviews attributed to the novel „a constellation of characters whose idiosyncrasies make the family of Little Miss Sunshine look like Ozzie and Harriet.".^[12]Publishers Weekly criticized the plot as "formulaic", but also described the novel as "terrifically written".^[13]The Globe and Mail 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's 44 Scotland Street: "Cohen's Lucie a North American near-relative of McCall Smith's Bertie" and praised this as an "incredible achievement in itself".^[14] The Toronto Star 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."^[15]

The novel Inside Out Girl was a Globe and Mail bestseller in 2009.^[16] Allison Burnett signed an agreement to adapt the novel Inside Out Girl into a movie in August 2009.^[17]

The novel The Truth About Delilah Blue, which deals with a young woman with an old father with Alzheimer's disease and an absent mother, was recommended as one of 10 summer reads by Vit Wagner of Toronto Star in 2010.^[18] Cynthia MacDonald reviewed this novel for The Globe and Mail in June 2010 and considered it as "the summer's first terrific beach read".^[19]

For Tish Cohen's novel "The Search Angel", whose topic is adoption,^[20] the National Post attributed a "story telling talent" to the author in June 2013.^[21]

Cohen and Barbara Fogler wrote the screenplay for Sheila McCarthys short film Russet Season which premiered at Toronto Jewish Film Festival in 2017.^[22][23]

Cohen is married to a lawyer and has two children.^[7]