About Muhammad Cohen

Totally globalized Muhammad Cohen was born in New York City, served as a US diplomat in East Africa, masqueraded as a city planner in Queens, and wrote about baseball in the Bronx, Washington and Baltimore before moving to Hong Kong more than a decade ago.

Cohen got his big break in TV news when he called CNN for a job the day bullets began flying in Gulf War I. In 1995, Cohen came to Hong Kong for six months to assist the startup of CNBC Asia; he stayed and became a Hong Kong permanent resident in 2004. In Hong Kong, Cohen has also worked as an editor at Bloomberg News, The Hong Kong Standard and South China Morning Post, as well as Asia regional communications manager for a US multinational.

A graduate of Yale and Stanford’s Creative Writing program, Cohen’s work on business, politics, media and culture in Hong Kong and Asia has appeared in Time, Columbia Journalism Review, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Slate and Salon. His fiction has been published in Asia Literary Review, the Hong Kong Writers Circle’s Love and Lust collection, and Bristol Journal. Cohen also edited The Poker Face of Wall Street (John Wiley & Sons, 2006) for author Aaron Brown. Cohen is currently a special correspondent for Macau Business, columnist for Asia Times and The Guardian, and author for Lonely Planet, including the inaugural Lonely Planet Guide to Borneo and the ninth Lonely Planet Guide to Indonesia.

Hong Kong On Air, a tale of the 1997 handover, television news, love, betrayal, high finance and cheap lingerie published by Blacksmith Books, is Cohen’s first published novel. The book is available through the internet as well as in bookstores throughout the US and Hong Kong. One reviewer praises Hong Kong On Air as “the great American Hong Kong handover novel.” Cohen has given readings in Hong Kong, New York, at the Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival, and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali, where he also blogged for LonelyPlanet.com.

Twenty reasons Barack Obama stinks, posted on this blog in October 2010, received the most votes for the 3QuarksDaily.com 2010 Prize in Politics and was selected as a finalist for the award.

Since the late 1980s Cohen has taught writing academically and to working professionals. Combining his experience in the classroom and corporate communications with his multicultural perspective, he developed Writing Camp, interactive seminars that help writers at every skills level communicate more effectively.

Born Jewish and married to a Muslim princess, Cohen addresses religious and civic groups on “Muhammad Cohen’s Jewish Identity” and works with New Foundations for Peace as a global advisor to build bridges between Muhammads and Cohens.