Podcast appearances and mentions of leah hager cohen

Have you ever wondered about what goes on at your local community theatre? Or have you, yourself, participated in community theatre and wished someone covered it in a book? Today's guest of the podcast, Leah Hager Cohen, set out to do just that in her 2001 release "The Stuff of Dreams". This book covered a specific performance in a season of plays for her local community theatre, dubbed one of the oldest community theatres in the country.  Despite having many other fantastic releases since her '01 release, she's on the show today because 'The Stuff of Dreams' was a formative book for Joe during his youth and he had her on the show to discuss all things community and theatre. Please note: Unfortunately, there were some audio issues with Leah's Zoom connection and the quality is not up to the usual standards, we've cleaned it up the best we could but we hope you enjoy it nonetheless. We'll have Leah back again soon to continue this discussion! Enjoy! About Leah Hager Cohen Leah Hager Cohen was born in Manhattan and raised at Lexington School for the Deaf in Queens (where her parents worked) and later in Nyack, New York. As a kid, she spent summers at Camp Kinderland, stiltdanced with the Bread and Puppet Theater, ran a follow spot at Elmwood Playhouse, and shelved books at Nyack Library. At age 16, Leah enrolled as a drama student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, then transferred to Hampshire College a year later to study writing. She joined an arts brigade in Nicaragua, worked as a nanny in Berkeley, rode a Greyhound bus across the country, and freelanced as an ASL interpreter in NYC before attending Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The best praise she ever received came in a letter of recommendation by Edmund W. Gordon, her first boss after college: “She is impatient with institutional stupidity.” Her favorite quote about writing comes from the poet Joseph O. Legaspi: “My first memory of poetry was watching the rain on my windowsill when I was young, and touching the windowpane.” Leah is the author of 7 novels, 5 nonfiction books, one pamphlet, and the blog Love As A Found Object, as well as various and sundry essays, articles and reviews. As of September 2025, she has gone back to school, enrolled in the Master of Social Work program at Simmons University. About 'The Stuff of Dreams' In this unique theatrical memoir, novelist Cohen chronicles the ups and downs of her suburban community theater's struggles over the staging of David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly. The project is fraught with problems—the Arlington, Mass., theater and its conservative supporters are reluctant to stage a play that deals daringly with sexuality and race; meanwhile, it proves quite difficult to find an Asian man to play the transgendered lead (who also has a nude scene)—but the show must and does go on. Cohen, who loves working in theater, is a keen observer who never hesitates to pinpoint the problems and personality clashes endemic to the process of putting on a play. While she provides useful background, from the history of her theater (begun in 1913) to the importance of community theater in the U.S., she is best at describing the endlessly delicate negotiations between the small but award-winning theater's director, actors, designers and stagehands. Cohen is respectful of everyone's opinions and methods as they face M. Butterfly's considerable challenges to the theater's conventional approach to staging a production and moves us assuredly through her characters' process of political and artistic discovery. While never deeply probing the myriad social issues it raises, Cohen's backstage drama does give us a miniature yet nuanced glimpse into a world rarely explored.   Make sure to check out the Dtalkspodcast.com website! Thanks to Empire Toys for this episode of the podcast! Nostalgia is something everyone loves and Empire Toys in Keller Texas is on nostalgia overload.   With toys and action figures from the 70's, 80's, 90's, and today, Empire Toys is a one-stop-shop for a trip down memory lane and a chance to reclaim what was once yours (but likely sold at a garage sale)   Check out Empire Toys on Facebook, Instagram, or at TheEmpireToys.com AND Thanks to Self Unbound for this episode of the podcast: Your quality of life: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, is a direct reflection of the level of abundant energy, ease, and connection your nervous system has to experience your life!    At Self Unbound, your nervous system takes center stage as we help unbind your limited healing potential through NetworkSpinal Care.    Access the first steps to your Unbound journey by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or at www.selfunbound.com    

Stan opens Season 9 of Off the Deaton Path talking about his summer reading (so far)—books by Nina Stibbe, Jane Gardam, Leah Hager Cohen, Helene Hanff, James Hilton, Ferrol Sams—short thoughts on the Braves lousy season (so far), a sneak peek at upcoming podcasts, and AJC political writer Jim Galloway on the 1956 Georgia state ...Continue Reading »

Leah Hager Cohen joins Book Lust host Nancy Pearl to discuss her latest novel.

So much becomes possible when we honor doubt, writes Leah Hager Cohen.

Welcome to another episode of From the Front Porch! Annie is back to answer your literary dilemmas like a bookish Frasier Crane in volume 11 of Literary Therapy. Before we get started, this is your friendly reminder that From the Front Porch is a production of The Bookshelf, an indie bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. We're in the throes of our second holiday shopping season held during a pandemic, and remarkably, our spirits are high. As you support indies like ours this holiday season, please remember to shop early, to be open to our suggestions when your first book preference might already be back-ordered, and to trust our deadlines. This year, December 1 is the deadline to purchase something from us and have it arrive by Christmas. The books mentioned in this week's episode can be purchased from The Bookshelf My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano Normal People by Sally Rooney Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Finding Freedom by Erin French Educated by Tara Westover So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel Ecology of a Cracker Child by Janisse Ray Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson (currently unavailable) Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson (currently unavailable) The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington Where I Come From by Rick Bragg Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Black, White, and the Grey by Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (currently unavailable) Misfortune of Marion Palm by Emily Culliton (currently unavailable) Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer Limelight by Amy Poppel Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen (currently unavailable) This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  Thank you again to this week's sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are passing through, I hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia: www.thomasvillega.com. This week, Annie is reading Taste by Stanley Tucci. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you're so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff's weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Libro.FM: Libro.fm lets you purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite local bookstore (Like The Bookshelf). You can pick from more than 215,000 audiobooks, and you'll get the same audiobooks at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name). But you'll be part of a different story -- one that supports community. All you need is a smart phone and the free Libro.fm app. Right now, if you sign up for a new membership, you will get 2 audiobooks for the price of one. All you have to do is enter FRONTPORCH at checkout or follow this link: libro.fm/redeem/FRONTPORCH Flodesk: Do you receive a weekly or monthly newsletter from one of your favorite brands? Like maybe From the Front Porch (Or The Bookshelf)... Did you ever wonder, ‘how do they make such gorgeous emails?'  Flodesk is an email marketing service provider that's built for creators, by creators, and it's easy to use. We've been using it for a couple of years now, and I personally love it. And right now you can get 50% off your Flodesk subscription by going to: flodesk.com/c/THEFRONTPORCH

S4 E33: In this episode meet Jane Green, author of THE FRIENDS WE KEEP; Leah Hager Cohen, author of STRANGERS & COUSINS; and Belinda Luscombe, author of MARRIAGEOLOGY. At the heart of each of these audiobooks is the idea that relationships shape us, from friends and families to lovers and spouses. Indeed, these women are excited about the relationship between themselves and you, the listener. Plus discover which author found accent inspiration from the audiobook A GAME OF THRONES and the rest of the series. The Friends We Keep by Jane Green: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/540213/the-friends-we-keep/ Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/318957/strangers-and-cousins/ Marriageology by Belinda Luscombe: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/556998/marriageology/

Here at the end of our pollen-covered month, it's time to discuss what we were able read between, y'know, everything else. You can find all of the following books for sale (or preorder) in The Bookshelf's online store. + Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson (on sale July 30) + Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson (on sale April 2) + Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl (on sale April 2) + Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen (on sale May 14) + Inheritance by Dani Shapiro + Normal People by Sally Rooney (on sale April 16) + Trust Exercise by Susan Choi (on sale April 9) Thanks, as always, to Forlorn Strangers for the use of our theme music. Learn and listen more here. Listen to a full back catalogue of our show here, and, if you're interested in some exclusive content like Chris and Annie's Unpopular Opinions, consider supporting us on Patreon here.  

Author of George & Lizzie Interview starts at 14:30 and ends at 44:06 “Because of their childhoods I think they approach the world in such different ways--George the pathological optimist and Lizzie the person who knows the glass is totally empty and that you're just imagining any water. I don't know what keeps any two people together in a marriage, and I've been married 51 years!” News “‘Cortana, Open Alexa,' Amazon Says. And Microsoft Agrees.” by Nick Wingfield at The New York Times - August 30, 2017 Amazon press release - August 30, 2017 Amazon announces Alexa Prize Finalists “Alexa, Play My Music Everywhere” - Amazon release August 29, 2017 Interview with Nancy Pearl George & Lizzie: A Novel by Nancy Pearl (available for pre-order with release on September 5, 2017) Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason (2003) by Nancy Pearl “‘I Want the Pages to Turn': Librarian Nancy Pearl's Summer Reading List” at National Public Radio's Morning Edition - June 29, 2017 The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Birds of America: Stories by Lorrie Moore Standard Deviation: A Novel by Katherine Heiny Books by Laurie Colwin and Anne Tyler Searching for Caleb by Anne Tyler Heart, You Bully, You Punk by Leah Hager Cohen (not available in eBook) Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Rediscoveries series The Cowboy and the Cossack by Clair Huffaker Books by Georgette Heyer Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart by Scott Anderson Next Week's Guest John Morgan, Executive Editor at Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and editor for the forthcoming Young Adult novel The Wild Lands by Paul Greci Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Perspective" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD. Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Works of fiction sometimes offer unique windows on society, and so it is with Leah Hager Cohen‘s novel No Book but the World (Riverhead, 2014). The story opens with Ava’s search for answers to how her brother Fred has landed in jail, accused of killing a young boy. Having been raised in a Summerhill-inspired alternative education environment along with Fred, Ava’s memories reconstruct for us the making of Fred’s dissonance with the rule-bound world of late twentieth-century America. Cohen provokes our thinking about education and learning philosophies, parenting, and the practice of law. Deeper still, she probes the tangling of childhood experiences with the memories of them and the emotions evoked by past and present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Works of fiction sometimes offer unique windows on society, and so it is with Leah Hager Cohen‘s novel No Book but the World (Riverhead, 2014). The story opens with Ava’s search for answers to how her brother Fred has landed in jail, accused of killing a young boy. Having been raised in a Summerhill-inspired alternative education environment along with Fred, Ava’s memories reconstruct for us the making of Fred’s dissonance with the rule-bound world of late twentieth-century America. Cohen provokes our thinking about education and learning philosophies, parenting, and the practice of law. Deeper still, she probes the tangling of childhood experiences with the memories of them and the emotions evoked by past and present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Works of fiction sometimes offer unique windows on society, and so it is with Leah Hager Cohen‘s novel No Book but the World (Riverhead, 2014). The story opens with Ava’s search for answers to how her brother Fred has landed in jail, accused of killing a young boy. Having been raised in a Summerhill-inspired alternative education environment along with Fred, Ava’s memories reconstruct for us the making of Fred’s dissonance with the rule-bound world of late twentieth-century America. Cohen provokes our thinking about education and learning philosophies, parenting, and the practice of law. Deeper still, she probes the tangling of childhood experiences with the memories of them and the emotions evoked by past and present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leah Hager Cohen, the author of four novels including The Grief of Others and four works of narrative nonfiction including Train Go Sorry, is the Chair in Contemporary American Letters at the College of the Holy Cross and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Jim Shepard is the author of six novels, including Project X, and four story collections, including the National Book Award finalist Like You’d Understand, Anyway and You Think That’s Bad, released April 2011. Following readings from Shepard and Cohen, Marilyn Sides, professor of English at Wellesley College, moderated a discussion. The event took place as part of Distinguished Writers Series at Wellesley's Newhouse Center for the Humanities in March 2012.

The New York Times Book Review called Leah Hager Cohen "one of our foremost chroniclers of the mundane complexities, nuanced tragedies and unexpected tendernesses of human connection." Her reading of the prologue from The Grief of Others clearly demonstrates why she deserves the label. In this brief opening scene, Cohen describes with microscopic and eloquent detail the features of a newborn and the love his mother feels for him. Cohen raises moving questions about the fragility of life and about the limits of our ability to name the events and emotions of our experience.