Bernard Cohen is the prize-winning author of four novels and a children's picture book. His major awards include the 1996 Australian/Vogel Literary Award for The Blindman's Hat and a 2001 Arts Council of England Writer's Award. He was listed for three consecutive years (1997-99) among the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelists, and was inaugural Alumnus of the Year at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Bernard has published numerous shorter pieces in anthologies and literary magazines including The Penguin Century of Australian Stories, Best Australian Stories (twice), Best Australian Essays and Picador New Writing. His range of published or performed writing includes fiction, poetry, essays, feature articles, travel writing, opinion pieces, mulitmedia and performance work.

Within the literary community, Bernard has served on the Board of Varuna Writers' Centre and has judged the NSW Premier's New Writer's Fellowship and Children's Writing Award, the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Writer award, and the Australia Council's Emerging Writers' grants for children's writing and new media.

Bernard has taught creative writing at all educational levels from infants' school to university, and to all ages from five to (approximately) 75. He has been writer-in-residence at Peckham Library and Sir John Soane's Museum in London, as well as Nottingham, Worcester, Taipei and Wagga Wagga.

Young people from Bernard's workshops have published their writing in magazines and on websites, written books, stories and poems, exhibited writing at the Australian Museum (Face-to-Face "Teenage Survivors of Torture and Trauma), and won writing prizes in numerous competitions.

Bernard was born in the US, lived most of his life in Australia and has also lived in the UK, France and Spain.

Bernard founded The Writing Workshop in 2006.