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Bernard Cohen Bernard Cohen i(A13867 works by)
Born: Established: 1963 Michigan,
c
United States of America (USA),
c
Americas,
;
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: ca. 1964
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BiographyHistory

Bernard Cohen was born in Lansing, Michigan, to Australian parents in 1963, and came to Australia at the age of nine months. He studied at the University of Technology Sydney. Since 1985, his stories and articles have appeared in newspapers, magazines and literary journals in Australia, New Zealand, the US and France. His first novel, Tourism was published in 1992. Cohen received a grant from the Australia Council to take up a residency at the Nancy Keesing Studio, Paris.

In 1996 he won the Australian/Vogel Literary Award with The Blindman's Hat which was published in 1997. The novel tells of an Australian journalist who leaves his job on a New York newspaper after ten years to devote himself to love. Instead he finds himself investigating a murder while being pursued by his employers. Cohen has published further novels, worked on a collaborative book with John Kinsella, McKenzie Wark and Terri-Ann White and has written a children's picture book text, Paul Needs Specs.

In 2002 Cohen was writer-in-residence at Sir John Soame's Museum (London) and University College Worcester.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Antibiography of Robert F. Menzies Sydney South : HarperCollins Australia , 2013 6164448 2013 single work novel satire (taught in 2 units)

'A witty, irreverent and intelligent satire of Australian politics.

'A soon-to-be-elected Australian prime minister invokes the spirit of Sir Robert Menzies and astonishingly, the Great Man rises from the grave. But in Canberra, amongst the nation′s leaders, the revived Menzies is rarely listened to and hardly visible. Increasingly discontented with his role as mere nostalgic symbol, Menzies escapes from Canberra. He runs westward, becoming larger and more powerful as he runs.

'This, perhaps the most significant untold story in Australian political history, lands in the lap of the Antibiographer, whose contracted book on Menzies is years behind schedule. Could this be the break the Antibiographer needs to redeem his career? Will he be able to track down the Menziean colossus and save his book and reputation? And can the out-of-control Menzies ever be contained?

'The Antibiography of Robert F. Menzies is playful, lyrical, surprisingly poignant and very funny.' (Publisher's blurb)

2015 winner Russell Prize for Humour Writing
y separately published work icon Snowdome St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1998 Z241257 1998 single work novel

'Snowdome is a tale of two histories. It is the present. Tinnitus is the spirit of the age. William comes home, flicks the radio on, turns it up. His head is full of noise.' William and his friends live in Sydney, a mumbling city. They think about the future, and thinking hurts.

'It is the future. Sydney has been emptied out by economic forces and re-opened as a museum. The museum guide's task is to describe the city's history to tourists. He can no longer tell is that history is true or if he has made it up. He hears the firmness in his voice on the cassette tapes and he keeps his doubts to himself.' (Publisher's blurb)

1999 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
y separately published work icon The Blindman's Hat St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1997 Z236828 1997 single work novel 'Vernon is an expatriate Australian journalist working in Manhattan for a quality New York daily and Dida is a freelance mobile telephone technician. Muffy is their little white dog, and the world's cutest urban philosopher. When Vernon falls so deeply in love with Dida he stops going to work to be with her, they could not have predicted his former employers would ask, plead, beg, threaten, kidnap and probably even murder to convince Vernon to return to the workplace.

Vernon, Dida and Muffy determine to get to the bottom of all this. They search through dodgy Wall Street transactions, oppressive correspondence, muffled answering machine messages and undertake good twin/bad twin routines and failed hypnotherapy in their search for the truth. In the rare quiet moments, Vernon worries about his dwindling Australianness.

The Blindman's Hat is Paul Auster with added exuberant silliness, Sara Paretsky stuffed full of red herrings, and Herge overcome by lust.' (Publisher's blurb)
1996 winner The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript)
1998 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
Last amended 23 Mar 2021 11:36:04
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