COPAKE — Esther Cohen, a self-described lover of pens, will have plenty on hand for the audience to use as she combines readings from her latest book with an opportunity for them to create their own writings at the Roeliff Jansen Library, 9091 Route 22, Hillsdale at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 1.
An energetic communicator, Cohen, who notes keyboards are also welcome, says she especially likes to work with others and enjoys the feedback that classes and in-person events such as the RoeJan presentation allow.
That evening’s “All of Us: Stories and Poems Along Route 17” features portraits of individuals such as might be found in Cohen’s daily life in either her small New York City rent-controlled apartment or her home in Greene County’s Cornwallville, which she shares with her husband of 40 years, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Odabashian.
Her writing throughout the years runs the gamut from humorous and heartwarming to insightful and thought provoking.
Some of her works are presented as prose and some as poetry. Defining the latter, Cohen notes, “The author is the decision maker... If you, the writer, say it’s a poem, I believe it’s a poem.”
With eight books to her credit and five star ratings on Amazon and Good Reads, Cohen’s days are crammed as she writes and posts a daily poem where she “tells the story of what happens every day,” a practice she began ten years ago simply because, “No one else had done it, so I thought I’d try.”
She conducts numerous readings and Zoom writing classes mainly sponsored by the venerable New York Society Library. In a new serial mystery on Kindle Vella, she shares the continuing adventures of a 93 year old sleuth in “There’s a Body in My Lobby.”
Although she has worked with traditional publishers in the past, Cohen is particularly enthusiastic about venues such as her poetry site at overheardec@substack.com “where writers have a voice” because “I hear from readers every single day. I’m crazy about that. People write me and they say all sorts of things.”
Cohen says she was basically “raised in a library,” and that her love of writing began at an early age. When she was in seventh grade she and her best friend Gabby began a neighborhood newspaper together. Since then Cohen has been a faithful observer and recorder of life around her.
In general, the work she produces has a light touch as she believes, “It’s such a difficult time. I’m in the fun camp. The world is so crazy. Politics are so crazy. Wars are so horrible. There’s so much sickness. I think we have to remember to enjoy ourselves.”
Beyond being an author, Cohen has contributed her efforts to multiple causes over the years. A political activist, she was the long-time director of Bread and Roses, an organization which aims to improve the lives of marginalized individuals through music.
She founded Unseen America, where “we gave cameras and 12 week classes with professional photographers to migrant workers and nannies and health care workers, fast food workers, and hundreds of groups of people to tell the stories of their lives from their prospective of what they see.” Cohen has taught writing classes centering on journaling to many including previously incarcerated women and has worked with labor unions and other nonprofits.
