So long Leonard Cohen ( 1934 –2016)

The Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, novelist, and painter was beloved throughout the world for his deeply emotional and heartfelt lyrics, the soundtrack to many of my days and nights I must add! There is a nice little library story about him too…...when he was 25 years old, a librarian in the University of Toronto called Richard Landon, insisted the library buy some of his manuscripts, including drafts of Beautiful Losers and Let Us Compare. subsequently Leonard forged a strong bond with the library and has donated over a hundred boxes of his personal papers. The boxes include drafts of literary works, biographic material and correspondence with poets Irving Layton and Allen Ginsberg, and photos taken at a studio session with Phil Spector and Joni Mitchell in the 70’s. “University of Toronto has been very kind to me over the years – and when I really needed it too -so I feel very grateful to the University and to the library,” said Cohen. Once they have archived all the material much of it will be available online to the public.