The biography of Leonard Cohen

Sylvie Simmons highly readable and greatly entertaining biography of Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man, was published last week and even at 550 pages I found it unputdownable. What an amazing life this poet/musician has had. If you are a fan this is a must-read.

And by way of a bonus Kim Hill will be talking to Sylvie Simmonds this Saturday on her popular Saturday morning show on Radio New Zealand National. I hear she has chosen a number of her favourite Cohen songs that will be played during the interview.

I have heard it whispered around the traps that Sylvie Simmons has been invited to the 2013 Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. What a drawcard she would be, hope the rumour proves to have substance.Watch this space.

I'm Your Man - the biography of Leonard Cohen
Sylvie Simmons
Jonathan Cape - $37.99 (a bargain!)

Footnote:
An excerpt from the publisher's catalogue:

Sylvie Simmons draws on Cohen's private archives and a wealth of interviews with many of his closest associates, colleagues, and other artists whose work he has inspired, as well as professors, Buddhist monks, and rabbis, to share stories and details never before revealed, and correct mistakes propounded in previous works. Unlike other biographies, 'm Your Man gives equal time to Cohen's poetry and prose and balances his intellectual and religious sides. The result is this deeply insightful, well-rounded portrait, of an artist whose reach, vision, and incredible talent who has had a profound impact on multiple generations and who continues to create magic today.