Leonard Cohen
Laszlo of Montreal
Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal on September 21, 1934. He received his B.A. from McGill University and pursued graduate studies in English at Columbia University. Soon thereafter, he returned to Montreal and worked in his family’s clothing business while he continued to write poetry.
His artistic career began in 1956 with the publication of Let Us Compare Mythologies. He published nine collections of poetry, most recently, Book of Longing (2006), and two novels, The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966). During the sixties he achieved national and international acclaim as a composer-singer.
Cohen was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1991, and promoted to the rank of Companion in 2003. He received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 1993, and won numerous Juno Awards.
Cohen died on November 7, 2016, at the age of 82 at his home in Los Angeles.
