Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction (YA) writer. Her first book, Gingerbread, was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collaborated on three books with the author David Levithan.

Cohn was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, grew up near DC, and attended Barnard College in Manhattan at the age of 17. She graduated with a B.A. in political science, thinking she wanted to be a journalist.

Instead of becoming a journalist, Cohn moved to San Francisco - where Gingerbread was set - to work at a law firm and began writing. After moving back to New York City, Gingerbread was published followed by a number of other books, often about a strong, witty female protagonist.

Rachel Cohn is now a full-time author living in New York City with her two cats, named Bunk and Mcnulty.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist was made into a 2008 film of the same name, directed by Peter Sollett and starred Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as Nick and Norah. Rachel and David can be seen in the background in the scene at Veselka restaurant. Rachel had the idea for Nick & Norah while walking around Central Park, and contacted David because she needed "a guy writer." About the book being made into a film, Cohn has said: "Just having a movie made of the book was unbelievable in itself. Then to see the cameras in New York City in all those streets we'd written about, it makes you feel very powerful."

Publishers Weekly announced a four-book deal between Disney-Hyperion and Rachel Cohn. The first book, "Beta" was released in late 2012. The focus of the series will be more plot-driven than her previous books, as it is sci-fi/fantasy based. ISFDB catalogs it as "young-adult sf".

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (2008) is included in my Best XXI century Gay Novels (2000-2009).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Cohn

YA does it better? Rachel Cohn collaborated with David Levithan on Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist, a short yet perfect novel. Rachel gave me Nick & Nora... in galley form and I tore through it in two hours. It was, as I told Rachel, "a perfect romantic comedy." With seeming effortlessness, David and Rachel had written a boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl/boy-gets-girl back story equal to the original Nick & Nora, the gum shoe duo introduced by Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man (later made into the 1934 movie of the same name, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.) --Tomas Mournian

Further Readings:

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Ember; Reprint edition (August 26, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375844414
ISBN-13: 978-0375844416
Amazon: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
Amazon Kindle: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

The quintessential Girl-Likes-Boy-Who-Likes-Boys, from the New York Times bestselling authors of NICK & NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST!

Naomi and Ely are best friends. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. So they create their "No Kiss List" of people neither of them is allowed to kiss. And this works fine…until Bruce.

Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But when Ely kisses Bruce, the result is a rift of universal proportions. Can these best friends come back together again? Or will this be the end of Naomi and Ely: the institution?

Told in alternating voices using an array of emoticons and symbols by co-authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, co-author of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON with John Green (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS), NAOMI AND ELY’S NO KISS LIST is the ultimate offbeat love—and in love—story.