Marina Cohen

Readings

Using anecdotes and visuals, I take students along on my long and bumpy road toward publication — a journey that took a decade of thinking, months of writing, even more months of re-writing and editing, and years of rejection before I finally received my first contract. The message: Work hard, persevere and your dreams can come true! Using drama and student participation, I illustrate several writing techniques, which leads to a short reading from one of my novels. I end my presentation with a question and answer period. My presentation is designed to engage reluctant as well as avid readers.

Special Equipment:

An LCD projector, if possible.

Book Sales:

Marina will bring copies of her books to the readings for students to purchase and have autographed.

Workshops

During workshops, I provide an in-depth look at certain techniques writers use to create suspense. Working with a simple scene, using drama and student participation, we move forward, layering and fleshing it out until the scene is edge-of-your-seat thrilling. After the initial exercise, I provide students with a second scenario. In small groups, using the techniques they’ve just learned, they create suspenseful scenes, which they then share with the entire group. I conclude the workshop by reading a suspenseful passage from one of my novels and I answer any questions students may have about the writing process.

Book Sales:

Marina will bring copies of her books to the readings for students to purchase and have autographed.

Biography

Marina Cohen is an elementary school teacher in the York Region District School Board. She has a Master’s Degree in French Literature from the University of Toronto. The idea for her first novel, Shadow of the Moon, the story of boy/girl twins, brewed inside her for more than a decade before she began to write it. She completed the first draft of the manuscript in 2002, two years prior to giving birth to her own boy/girl twins. She often says, “I knew there was a reason this story was so close to my heart.”