Jamie Beth Cohen

"With the fingers of the potter; And the laughing tale of the fool
The arranger of disorder; With your strange and simple rules"
-- Suzanne Vega

SHORT BIO
Jamie Beth Cohen is the author of The Alice Burton Novels (WASTED PRETTY and LIMINAL SUMMER), and her words have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost Personal, Salon, and many other outlets including Hippocampus Magazine. She was named Best Storyteller in Lancaster (PA) in 2021, and her poem “that one thing” was nominated for The Best of the Net (2024) by JMWW Journal. Her work has been supported by Shannaghe and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing. She is currently working on a memoir about her complicated father, their layered relationship, and his unexplained death which was shortlisted for the Memoir Magazine prize. When she’s not writing, reading, working, or spending time with her family, she can be found mentoring incarcerated writers and novice storytellers.
Twitter / Insta

MORE ABOUT ME
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and currently live in Lancaster City, PA with my husband, our two children and our two cats. My seventeen years outside of the Keystone state took me to Fairfax, VA; New York City; College Park, MD, and Los Angeles, CA.

I am a graduate of The Ellis School for Girls and have studied writing at Long Lake Camp for the Arts, the (now, sadly defunct) Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts at Mercyhurst College (where I later served as the Assistant Resident Director), and George Mason University where I earned a Bachelor's Degree in English/Writing with a minor in Art History. I have a Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College - City University of New York.

All I have ever wanted to do is write, but I have done a number of other things in the service of feeding, clothing and sheltering myself and my family. My favorite job was scooping ice cream when I was sixteen years old. I think everything about sixteen was wonderful and amazing, except all the stuff that was horrible.