Cohen’s final book due out next year
‘Stunning’ collection of his last poems
TORONTO• Leonard Cohen’s final book, which he finished in the months before his death last November, will hit shelves next year.
McClelland and Stewart says it will release The Flame on Oct. 16, 2018.
The publishing house describes the book as “a stunning collection of Cohen’s last poems, selected and ordered by the author in the final months of his life.”
The book also has excerpts from his notebooks as well as the full lyrics to his final three albums and those written by Cohen for the album Blue Alert by his collaborator Anjani.
Readers will also get to see prose pieces and illustrations by the Montreal-born Hallelujah singer-songwriter, who died Nov. 7 at age 82.
McClelland and Stewart calls the book “an enormously powerful final chapter in Cohen’s storied literary career.”
“During the final months of his life, Leonard had a singular focus — completing this book taken largely from his unpublished poems and selections from his notebooks,” Robert Kory, Cohen’s manager and trustee of the Cohen estate, said Friday in a statement.
“The flame and how our culture threatened its extinction was a central concern. Though in declining health, Leonard died unexpectedly.
“Those of us who had the rare privilege of spending time with him during this period recognized that the flame burned bright within him to the very end. This book, finished only days before his death, reveals to all the intensity of his inner fire.”
Cohen’s first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956, a year after his graduation from McGill University. The Flowers For Hitler poetry collection and the novels The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers followed in the 1960s. He went on to publish several other books, including 1984’s Book of Mercy, which won the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Poetry.
Cohen only made the decision to be a professional musician after concluding that the literary life, however acclaimed his books might be, wasn’t going to pay the bills.
McClelland and Stewart publisher Jared Bland said the book is “full of Leonard Cohen’s signature combination of grace, humour, wisdom, and heartbreaking insight into the fragility and beauty of this world we all share.”
“It will endure as a testament to his humanity and genius, and delight his millions of fans around the world,” said Bland.