This website is under construction. Thank you for your understanding.

I’m Isobel Wohl, a writer based in Brooklyn, NY.

  • My essay ‘Ooh ee oh oiy!’ appeared in the exhibition catalogue for ‘Word Parts’ by Alida Kuzemczak-Sayer, on view at Standpoint Gallery in London through 9 December. (Click here to read an excerpt and learn more.)

    Psst! In January 2024, I’m offering a masterclass through Writers & Artists on the theme of ‘Writing Vividly.’ Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned some wonderful practices from others and developed a couple of my own, and I can’t wait to share them with you. Click here for more info.

  • My first novel, Cold New Climate, was published in 2021 by Weatherglass Books. Before that, I wrote a book of short stories called Winter Strangers (MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE, 2019). My essays have been published in Astra Online, The Irish Times, and LitHub, among other venues.

    I am also a visual artist. I received my BFA in Studio Art from New York University before moving to London, UK, where I completed my MA in Painting and PhD in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art. In 2019, I moved back to my hometown of Brooklyn, NY.

    I’m currently working on my second novel.

  • I’d love to hear from you! You can email me at isobel[at]isobelwohl.com.

    I am also on Instagram as @isobel_wohl. (I’m not on the app every day and don’t do the best job of keeping up with my DMs, so please have patience with me.)

“I was engrossed from the very start.”

-Katherine Angel, author of Daddy Issues

Learn more about Cold New Climate here.

I’ve also written about…

  • grapefruit and your sex life

    In Astra Online, I asked what the recent increased visibility of grapefruit in popular culture might teach us about pleasure today.

    Read here.

  • yaki yak, yaki yak. oh noooo

    In ‘Ooh ee oh oiy!,’ I explored how the artist Alida Kuzemczak-Sayer’s approach to embodied language shifted as her young daughter learned to speak.

    Read an excerpt here.

  • how climate change warps literary time

    Time is central to literature—but climate breakdown has already changed how past, present, and future feel today. How can we shape our stories to respond?

    I explored this question for the climate-focused magazine emerge. Read my essay here.

  • how to make art with an open mind

    I’ve learned so much about how to be an artist from my dear friend Abraham Kritzman.

    I explored his approach to creative work in essay published in 2023 on the occasion of his show at Danielle Arnaud Gallery.

    Click here to read.

    (image: Ashomon, Abraham Kritzman)

  • why suspense is ethics

    In The Irish Times, I argue that literary tension is an operation of our sense of justice.

    Read here.

“Clarice Lispector, Jean Rhys, F. Scott Fitzgerald—

this is the quality of the company Isobel Wohl is keeping.”

-Toby Litt, author of A Writer’s Diary