When Miriam Cohen finished her first manuscript nearly forty years ago, she put it and her infant son in a baby carriage and went to see the nearest children’s book publisher in New York City. She received some crucial words of encouragement and a rejection. But she didn't give up, and five years later her first children's book, Will I Have a Friend?, established her. The signature illustrations and child-like sense of humor in her books have made them perennial favorites.

Miriam is an avid champion of the emotional rights of children, claiming interest in “children's immense vulnerability, their need to be nurtured, encouraged, and allowed to unfold naturally.” She has spent many hours in classrooms reading, listening to and talking with children "not as a lecturer, but as a fellow writer." This time spent in the company of children is one reason why her books ring true, and why young readers identify with her characters and hear themselves in her voice.

Miriam and her husband live in Brooklyn, New York. They have three children. Their son Adam, an award-winning photographer, collaborated with Miriam on Eddy’s Dream.