“As a young man, Yeats spoke to me in a way I could understand. Shakespeare I couldn't understand, but Yeats I could. It was his subject matter and also I really admired the way he put his personal life on the line.”

Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. He is known for work that moves between song and literature, and for a career that made him a major figure in Canadian and international music. His writing and songs often explore faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, as well as love, desire, regret, loss, and social and political conflict. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 2011, he received a Prince of Asturias Award for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize.