Sarah Blacher Cohen was a writer, scholar, and playwright, and a professor at SUNY Albany for 30 years. Her area of specialty is Jewish American Fictions. Her published books include Comic Relief: Humor in Contemporary American Literature, Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...

's Enigmatic Laughter (1974), and Cynthia Ozick

Cynthia Ozick

Cynthia Ozick is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist. She is the niece of the Hebraist Abraham Regelson.-Background:Cynthia Shoshana Ozick was born in New York City, the second of two children...

's Comic Art: From Levity to Liturgy . She edited From Hester Street

Hester Street

Hester Street is a street in the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street stretches from Essex Street to Centre Street, with a discontinuity between Chrystie Street and Forsyth Street for Sara Delano Roosevelt Park....

 to Hollywood: The Jewish-American Stage and Screen (Jewish Literature and Culture Series), Making a Scene: The Contemporary Drama of Jewish-American Women, Jewish Wry: Essays on Jewish Humor. Her plays include The Ladies Locker Room, a biopic on Molly Picon

Molly Picon

Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller....

, Soul Sisters, as well as a musical review called Sophie, Totie & Belle. She has worked with Joanne Koch on a number of other plays. She collaborated with Isaac Bashevis Singer

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Isaac Bashevis Singer – July 24, 1991) was a Polish Jewish American author noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978...

 on the off-Broadway play Schlemiel the First. Dr. Cohen has also given talks and papers including "The Unkosher Comediennes: From Sophie Tucker

Sophie Tucker

Sophie Tucker was a Russian/Ukrainian-born American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first half of the 20th century...

 to Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...

". She was married to Dr. Gary Cohen. She died of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease- , known also as Morbus Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy , hereditary sensorimotor neuropathy , or peroneal muscular atrophy, is an inherited disorder of nerves that takes different forms...

on 10 November 2008 aged 72

External links

• Plays by Joanne Koch & Sarah Blacker
• New York Times Review of "Sophie, Totie and Belle"
• New York Times Review of "Schlemiel The First"
• Ezra Cappell (University of Texas, El Paso) "Sarah Blacher Cohen's Comic Drama of Disability" Jewish Women's Writing of the 1990s and Beyond - Abstract
• Comments from Dr. Cohen from a Philadelphia Inquirer article "Is 'Borat' Funny or a Hate Film?" Dr. Cohen's quoted in Nov 14, 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer article
• Bookfinder.com listing of Sarah Blacher Cohen
• Times Union Obituary Notice for Sarah Blacher Cohen