"Boston, which used to fancy itself 'the Athens of America,' takes history and especially its history, seriously and has more than enough of it to infiltrate even the most indifferent psyche."

Far from escaping it, as a writer and artist, I see this steeping (identified by printer and publisher David R. Godine) as an imperative to question the narratives we inherit, broaden the narrow bridge of history that brought us here, and to say the names we have not spoken.

Michael Todd Cohen is an essayist and artist published in The Rumpus, Split/Lip, and The Connecticut Literary Anthology, among others; Asst. Nonfiction Editor at X-Ray Literary Magazine. Recently, Editor-in-Chief Curiouser, where he interviewed literary luminaries like Melissa Febos and Michele Filgate. Previously, Director of Innovation and Editor-in-Chief of Industry Marketing at IBM, where he created and published Industrious, a print and digital literary magazine that explored the intersection of humanity and technology, and was distributed internationally. Prior, Sr. Producer at CNN/HLN where he produced and wrote documentary work, including Growing America (2014), hosted by Ty Pennington and The Next List (2013), hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Michael grew up on the North Shore of Boston, where he worked summers as a genealogist's assistant at the Phillips Library and Peabody Essex Museum. The questions of who inherits and has access to the American Dream, what damage our pursuit of industry does to our natural resources, and how capitalism causes grief, are all themes he pursues in his practice. To date, work has received nominations and honors from: The Pushcart Prize, New York Television Festival, LA Television Festival, Shorty Awards, and The Drum. He holds a BFA from Boston University and an MFA from Goucher College.

In 2022, Michael and poet Adrian Dallas Frandle organized Lordship House, to serve and celebrate the literary community.